February 21st

Colorado opting for another road payday?

Say it isn’t so …

In a chat for the Daily Camera, Kyle Ringo was asked about future non-conference scheduling for the Buffs, and he had a disturbing response …

“CU will play at Big Ten school in 2014. You might hear about that deal pretty soon. CU is basically kicking off the series with the Big Ten three years early. Beginning in 2017, every Pac-12 school will play a Big Ten school every year. CU will have one on the schedule in 2014, 2015 and 2016. And, no, none of them are Nebraska. You might have to wait until 2017, 2018 or 2019 for that game … The details haven’t been finalized on the three games in 14, 15 and 16. My impression is there is a home-and-home and a one-game deal for CU to go on the road.’

Seriously?

The excuse for Colorado going on the road to get pummeled by Ohio State last season was that CU needed the money. Between the costs of leaving the Big 12 and the costs paying off the Dan Hawkins’ regime, the CU athletic department needed to sacrifice the health and psyche of Jon Embree’s young team and play a 13th game.

Playing for the $$$ has also been the rationale in the past for scheduling tougher non-conference opponents than did Colorado’s conference brethren. Home-and-home games with the likes of Georgia and West Virginia attracted large crowds and national television audiences. You can’t fill the coffers, so the argument went, (even though you risk early season losses) by playing teams which the networks – and the finicky Buff Nation – wouldn’t pay to watch.

All that was supposed to come to an end with the new Pac-12 money. In 2013, Colorado stands to make close to double what the Buffs were making in television revenue in the Big 12 – and that’s the smallest payout CU will receive as part of the 12-year agreement. Once the Pac-12 Network begins to generate revenue, the media revenue could easily be four to five times the $$$ which CU was used to receiving. The ESPN/Fox contracts, combined with the Pac-12 Network money, should, by the end of this decade, be generating about 2/3 of what Colorado was used to seeing in terms of revenue for the entire athletic department.

The apparent end of “play-for-pay” was further evidenced when Colorado scheduled Sacramento State for the 2012 season, and Central Arkansas for 2013. CU had learned the hard way, but it had learned. You need six wins and a bowl appearance to move forward. You don’t do that by being mauled in Columbus, even it is means $12 million for one afternoon’s embarrassment.

And now?

A home-and-home with a Big Ten team, before the Pac-12/Big Ten marriage officially begins in 2017, is fine. A number of Pac-12 teams are venturing out to play home-and-homes with other BCS conference schools … UCLA just played Texas in back-to-back seasons, and has Virginia and Rutgers coming up over the next few seasons. Arizona is doing the same with Oklahoma State; Arizona State with Illinois and Missouri. And, of course, Stanford and USC have annual grudge matches with Notre Dame.

Home-and-homes are not the issue. Victory-starved Buff fans can point to CU victories over Georgia and West Virginia amongst the few highlights of the past few seasons.

No. The problem is with another pay-for-play game. Yes, it is true that a Michigan or a Penn State, with stadiums which hold over 100,000 fans, can offer a payday which the Buffs can’t offer in return. Yes, it is true that Colorado is trying to recruit nationally, and needs national exposure to get out the CU brand.

But it’s not worth throwing a team with a school-record streak of six straight losing seasons under the bus just for a paycheck. When did Colorado decide it was okay to become the patsy everyone wants to schedule without a return date?

When the Pac-12/Big Ten contract kicks in, 11 of Colorado’s 12 games will be pre-determined each year – nine conference games; CSU; and a Big Ten game. That leaves very little room for creativity come the 2017 season and beyond.

In the meantime, Colorado has to re-establish a winning tradition. You can’t do that if you are the team always facing six road games, including a game where Colorado is the sacrificial lamb for an elite program.

Let’s hope Ringo’s information proves incorrect … and that his article back in January, wherein he speculated about Colorado playing a two-for-one (with CU getting the two home games) with newly minted 1-A UMass, is closer to the truth.

February 18th

Multiyear scholarships coming to CU?

It came out with little fanfare, but it could have long term implications …

According to an NCAA release, multiyear scholarship legislation, one of several measures the Division I Board of Directors adopted in the wake of an August 2011 presidential retreat, was upheld in a membership override vote that concluded Friday.

As such, Division I schools will have the option to offer scholarships guaranteed for more than one year.

Of 330 institutions voting, 62.12% percent voted to override the legislation. A 62.5% majority of those voting was required to override legislation. More than 90% of Division I institutions voted.

“I am pleased that student-athletes will continue to benefit from the ability of institutions to offer athletics aid for more than one year, but it’s clear that there are significant portions of the membership with legitimate concerns,” NCAA President Mark Emmert said. “As we continue to examine implementation of the rule, we want to work with the membership to address those concerns.”

The rule was put in place last October, giving schools the option to offer multiyear scholarships instead of those that need to be renewed annually. It took effect immediately and a number of schools confirmed on the Feb. 1 national signing day they would be giving out scholarships that no longer have to be renewed annually, including Ohio State, Auburn, Michigan, Michigan State, Florida and Nebraska.

Uh-oh …

Before we talk about why this is disconcerting, allow me to digress for a moment.

To me, there are four tiers to Division 1-A football.

First, there are the elite college football programs, schools which are regularly competing for titles, and have budgets and stadia which all other schools envy. Schools like Alabama, Ohio State, USC, Texas, and yes, Nebraska, fit into this category.

The second tier consists of most of the rest of the BCS conference schools, programs which would like to be elite, and can occasionally make a statement on the national stage. Schools like Washington, Georgia, Clemson, West Virginia, and yes, Colorado, fit into this category.

The third tier consists of schools happy (lucky?) to be in a BCS conference, like Vanderbilt, Duke, Washington State and Indiana, and the top tier non-BCS schools (who are now taking the leap to the BCS), such as Boise State and TCU.

The final Division 1-A tier consists of the remaining non-BCS schools, programs which are now scrambling. They see what is happening with the new network contracts ($3 billion over 12 years for the  Pac-12) and other sources of revenue (Pac-12 Network may turn out to be even more lucrative than the ESPN/Fox contracts). Schools like Colorado State can try and put a good face on the Mountain West / Conference USA “Association”, but all the spin doctors in the world will not create dollars for these schools to compete financially with the BCS programs.

Which leads us back to the NCAA legislation vote …

While on the face of it, there is little to criticize in the concept of guaranteeing players more than a year-to-year scholarship. It is their hard work – and sacrificed bodies – which allows the top schools to cash checks with a ludicrous number of zeroes behind them (it is being reported that last season, the SEC distributed a record $19.5 million in television revenues to each school, a 50-percent increase from just two seasons before), Why not give some security to the players?

Look at the schools which are already lining up to give out multi-year scholarships … Ohio State, Auburn, Michigan, Michigan State, Florida and Nebraska.

See a pattern?

The above schools are, for the most part, members of the top tier of Division 1-A football.

Which gives me pause.

Colorado fans have been celebrating the move to the Pac-12. The conference is a much better fit for the Buffs, and Larry Scott has been a magician in making the league’s members very, very rich. Colorado, while not on equal footing with USC and Oregon, has obtained something closer to parity with the new riches.

Well, just as the Buff Nation enjoys distancing itself from the CSU Rams, USC fans like to have a little bit of room between themselves and the remainder of the other Pac-12 teams.

And multiyear scholarships may be just the means to accomplish that end. Schools with more money than they know what to do with will find a way to make it work to their advantage. After all, Oregon’s weight room can only be so large before its overkill, and the players’ lounge can only have so many big screen televisions. With all of the new money from television contracts, The Law of Diminishing Returns is now working against the tier one schools.

The multiyear scholarships, though, could help to widen the gap once again. While schools like Colorado will use their new found riches to try and compete in the arms race which has become facility enhancement, the elite schools can use the new rule to offer four year scholarships to five-star recruits. The elite schools will be able to take the risk – both financially and in terms of the depth chart – on offering the very best prospects the very best deals. 

But wait a second … aren’t 85 scholarships 85 scholarships? Wouldn’t the financial cost be the same, even with a multiyear scholarship guarantee? Let me put it this way … there is a salary cap in major league baseball and basketball. There are roster limits in baseball and basketball. Anyone believe that the Kansas City Royals are on equal footing with the Yankees? That the Minnesota Timberwolves compete on a level playing field with the Los Angeles Lakers? USC, limited to 75 scholarships due to NCAA sanctions, will compete against the rest of the BCS ten shy of the normal limit – and yet the Trojans are ranked in the top three of most 2012 preseason polls. It is not just a matter of dollars put out in a given year for scholarships, it is the risk of having that “elite” player tie up a roster position for four years.

To put it another way – Which Buff prospects over the past several years have topped the Colorado Signing Day list? Going backwards in terms of classes (source: Rivals ratings), the top CU recruits over the past four years have been: Paulay Asiata, Jered Bell, Nick Kasa, and Darrell Scott. Had Colorado tied up four-year scholarships to a significant part of its roster, the coaches today would be hamstrung with limited available scholarships.

USC and other elite schools, meanwhile, can afford a flame out or a bad choice. They will just move onto the next five star recruit on their roster. The playing field, once again, is tipped in favor of the schools with more resources.

So … Will multiyear scholarships be a means by which elite teams find a new way to separate themselves from the second tier of BCS schools?

Or is it just a coincidence that the schools jumping at the chance to utilize the new legislation are all elite schools? 

If you cut your teeth as a Buff fan with the old Big Eight – or, more precisely, the Big Two and the Little Six - you can be forgiven for suspecting that the former answer is the most likely.

Can Colorado goes its own way, and stick to single year scholarships? No. If the elite schools offer multiyear scholarships, Colorado will offer multiyear scholarships. The Buffs have to try and keep up with the Joneses – or, in this case, the Ducks and the Trojans. CU’s new $7 million video boards? They are as much for recruits as they are for the fans in the stands. Trying to keep up with the top tier schools is a way of life at the University of Colorado. Multiyear scholarships is just the latest obstacle to parity.

Multiyear scholarships may welll become commonplace over the next few years.

Whether multiyear scholarships are in the best interests of competitive balance, however, remains an open question

If you cut your teeth as a Buff fan, as I did, with the old Big Eight – or, more precisely, the Big Two and the Little Six - you can be forgiven for suspecting that the former answer is the most likely.

(Note: According to the Daily Camera, Colorado was one of the schools which voted against the multiyear scholarship allowance. Most of the other schools in the Pac-12, and almost all of the schools in the Big Ten, voted in favor of the move. According to the story, David Clough, CU’s faculty athletics representative said he met with 25 members of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and 24 of the 25 were opposed to multi-year scholarships. He said SAAC groups at the campus, Pac-12 and national level all voted against the measure that NCAA president Mark Emmert fought hard to get passed because he believes it provides student-athletes more security in the long run. “The number one reason they were against it is they want to have their feet to the fire,” Clough said of the student-athletes).

February 16th

CU running backs tops in the Pac-12

It’s good to  be first in something … and Rivals has rated the CU running backs the best of the Pac-12 for this year’s recruiting Class.

According to Adam Gorney, from Rivals.com recruiting: “After a 3-10 season in 2011, Colorado needs players that can make things happen all over the field and the Buffaloes did a quality job loading up at running back by signing four players. Three-star Davien Payne and Terrence Crowder are big, punishing backs and Donta Abron could be the sleeper in this class. Clay Norgard is expected to play fullback and he’s a tough, hard-nosed player.”

As for other unit rankings from the Class of 2012:

Quarterbacks – CU’s Shane Dillon is rated 4th, with Washington (and Mullen’s Cyler Miles) rated the best (Washington actually had two quarterback recruits this year, with the other being in-state star Jeff Lindqist);

Wide Receivers – Colorado in at No. 8; Cal at No. 1, with CU offeree Bryce Treggs at the top of the Bear class;

Tight Ends: CU’s signees were rated 4th, with Oregon considered to have the best tight end signees (including another Coloradoan, Evan Bayliss);

Offensive Line: Colorado dead last, in at No. 12 (which, with all of the in-state talent at offensive line in 2012, has to be considered a disappointment). Stanford is considered to not only have the best offensive line recruits in the Pac-12, but the best in the nation;

Defensive Tackle: CU is rated 4th, which is somewhat of a surprise, if only due to the number of linemen the Buffs signed. UCLA was given the nod as having the best Class.

Defensive Ends: Colorado down at No. 7, with the low ranking a fair indication of how coveted quality defensive ends are in the Pac-12. Oregon beat out Stanford for the best defensive end Class, but not by much;

Linebacker: A N/A for the Buffs, with CU not signing any linebackers in 2012. USC was considered to have the best Class of linebackers this year;

Defensive Backs: CU signee’s were rated no better than 6th, which again is surprisingly low. The Buffs’ best two new players – at least in terms of national ranking – were both defensive backs, so if credit was to be given the Colorado recruiting Class, you would have thought the high ranking would have come here. UCLA, meanwhile, was considered to have the best defensive back recruits.

Some notes … Oregon and Washington were each tabbed as having two of the best units, with one each for Colorado, Cal, Oregon, Stanford, UCLA and USC … Shut out were Arizona, Utah, Arizona State and Oregon State … Of the above nine rated units, only three belonged to Pac-12 South teams.

February 15th

Ralphie restricted to athletic department

Raphie has left the building …

at least the UMC.

According the Daily Camera article, the University of Colorado is restricting the use of Ralphie logo outside of the athletic department.

Academic departments can no longer use the buffalo image on their letterhead, and the University Memorial Center can no longer purchase new uniforms with Ralphie’s logo for its food service workers.

“We’re trying to keep Ralphie in the realm of sports and competition,” said Frances Draper, vice chancellor for strategic relations on the Boulder campus.

Instead, CU system spokesman Ken McConnellogue said, departments should be using the interlocking CU logo. He said consistency is necessary for the school’s branding efforts.

He joked that he doesn’t like playing “logo cop … But, if we don’t have standards and guidelines, you get the slide where there are hundreds of different logos,” McConnellogue said.

“The enforcement may seem Draconian, but we are a $2.8 billion enterprise that has invested a lot of time and money in getting our branding straight so that we can communicate with one voice,” said Regent Stephen Ludwig, D-Lone Tree. “Our staff needs to represent who we are — and that includes our vendors.”

Michael Carrigan, D-Denver, said he used Ralphie in his regent campaign because it’s a great logo. “When I ran, I used Ralphie because that’s what people recognized,” he said. “I’m not an expert, but I feel like we’re not taking full advantage of that.”

CU rolled out its new image a year ago and began phasing out a hodgepodge of inconsistent logos — which have widely varied across departments and campuses, being used on websites, business cards and letterheads.

The $780,000 branding project was paid from the president’s initiative funds, which are interest earnings on CU’s investments.

So when you look at the Buffalo at the top of the page, please ignore any potential symbolic reference to the University of Colorado …

… I just happen to like bison.

February 13th

Pac-12 Network update

As the Pac-12 Network broke ground on its new facilities in San Francisco, Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News posted updates on progress of the Network itself.

Highlights:

- The Pac-12 Network(s) is scheduled to launch August 15, a little over two weeks before the start of the football season, thus giving the conference a cushion in case of glitches.

- Will the national and regional networks both be available within the league’s footprint, or in a specific metro area? For example: Would a fan in Seattle who subscribes to Comcast have access to both the Pac-12/Northwest and Pac-12 National feeds? “It’s unclear,” Scott said. “Each distributor will have to make its own decision.” Comcast has committed to one feed in Seattle but would have the option to provide both Pac-12 NW on basic cable and Pac-12 National on a sports tier. “At a minimum, (Pac-12 National) will be offered online,” Scott said.

- All football and men’s basketball games not shown on ESPN/Fox will be broadcast on the national and all the regional networks. In other words, an Arizona basketball fan living in Seattle will be able to watch to all Wildcat games on Pac-12/NW … an Oregon football fan living in San Francisco will be able to watch to all Duck games on Pac-12/Bay Area, etc.

- The conference has held discussions with Direct and Dish, but I don’t expect any deals for months. Such agreement typically aren’t reached until weeks/days before a network launches. The Pac-12′s deal with its four cable partners is unusual. (This is bad news for those of us living outside of a Pac-12 media market, and out in the boonies where you have to have a dish … ).

- The conference received what Scott called “certain pre-payments” from its deals with ESPN and Fox — money that will be used to offset the massive startup costs associated with the seven TV networks. Scott reiterated that, from an operations standpoint, the Pac-12 Network(s) will be revenue-positive in Year One, although he doesn’t expect the league to distribute any network-related income to the schools in 2012-13.

February 10th

Colorado in at No. 48 in recruiting budgets

Ya gotta spend money to make money … or in this case, gather up five-star recruits.

The Business of College Sports has put out a list of recruiting budgets for college programs. Colorado comes in at No. 48 on the list, with total recruiting expenses of $885,421, with $633,190 allocated to men’s sports; $252,231 to women’s sports.

At the top of the list is Tennessee, with a recruiting budget of just shy of $2.3 million. Auburn and Notre Dame are Nos. 2 and 3, with the Tigers and Fighting Irish joining the Volunteers as the only teams with recruiting budgets in excess of $2 million.

Overall, six of the top eight spots are taken up by teams from the SEC … no real surprise there. The top Pac-12 team should also not be a surprise … with Oregon checking in at No. 18 with a recruiting budget roughly 50% higher than that of Colorado, at $1.2 million.

Also ahead of Colorado on the list from the Pac-12 are teams ranked 27th-29th, with Washington, Arizona and Stanford all at around $1 million per year. UCLA and USC are ranked No. 36 and No. 37, with Cal, at No. 45, the only other team from the Pac-12 spending more than the Buffs on recruiting.

Coming in behind Colorado are the four remaining schools in the Pac-12: Arizona State; Utah; Oregon State and Washington State.

The only ranking which does seem out of sorts with the results on the field is USC, with the Trojans no better than 6th in the conference, and 37th overall. Perhaps it has to do with the recruiting penalties imposed upon USC by the NCAA, or perhaps the Trojans have cleaned up their act on the recruiting trail, and are doing more with less.

Let’s go with the former explanation …

February 9th

Two eight team conferences to merge for 2013-14?

According to ESPN, Conference USA’s board of directors will meet later this week to discuss the possibility of a full-scale merger with the Mountain West Conference, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.

The prospect of a merger was already on the meeting agenda, even before C-USA member Memphis was on the verge of joining the Big East, the source said.

Memphis was officially invited into the Big East on Wednesday and has accepted the invitation. The school will join in 2013.

In the past year, C-USA members Houston, SMU and Central Florida accepted invitations to join the Big East in 2013-14.

That, along with Memphis’ pending departure, would leave C-USA with eight members: Southern Miss, Tulsa, Marshall, Rice, UAB, Tulane, East Carolina and UTEP.

The Mountain West is adding Nevada and Fresno State from the Western Athletic Conference for all sports and Hawaii in football. But the MWC is losing San Diego State to the Big East in football and the Big West for all other sports; Boise State to the Big East in football and the WAC in other sports; and TCU to the Big 12.

That means in 2013-14, the MWC would have eight football members, including Hawaii, and seven in all sports: UNLV, New Mexico, Wyoming, Colorado State, Air Force, Fresno State and Nevada.

A merger between C-USA and the MWC could consist of a conference with its current 2013-14 membership of 15 in all sports and 16 in football.

February 8th

Recruiting pipelines?

This past recruiting cycle, Colorado signed players from all over the nation, in several cases with players joining former teammates who were already on the CU roster.

As for the Class of 2013, Colorado coaches are already at work at those same schools.

The Buffs signed highly regarded cornerback Yuri Wright this February, with Wright joining Don Bosco prep (N.J.) teammate Tony Jones.

For next season, Colorado would like to sign four-star defensive end Alquadin Mohammad (Rivals bio) (Scout bio).

On Signing Day, 2012, Colorado signed three players from Upland, California – defensive back Marques Mosley, running back Donta Abron, and fullback Christian Powell. Now Colorado is recruiting four-star defensive end, and Upland teammate, Joe Mathis (Rivals bio) (Scout bio).

From Edna Carter Magnet school in New Orleans, Colorado signed wide receiver Keenan Canty. Next spring, CU hopes to land Canty’s former teammate, cornerback Lowell Ellis. (Rivals bio)  (Scout bio).

The Buffs are hoping that the dismissal of wide receiver Austin Vincent from the roster will not hurt their chances with fellow DeSoto, Texas, star, four-star running back Dontre Wilson.(Rivals bio)  (Scout bio).

Of course, there are other schools which have sent multiple players to Boulder which the Buffs are currently recruiting (including many Colorado high schools) …

We know that recruiters often work hard to convince the mothers of players about the benefits of having their son play for the Buffs.

Also important, though, is the relationship college coaches develop with high school coaches, who are often looked to for advice from prospective recruits.

If the offer sheet for 2013 is any example, than it can be said that the CU coaches have some pretty fair relationships with high school coaches across the nation.

February 5th

Buffs and the Super Bowl

Colorado has had 31 different alumni win Super Bowl rings.

Nate Solder would have liked to have become No. 32.

A year ago, Solder was a consensus All-American for the Buffs.  Solder was then selected in the first round of the NFL draft (No. 17 overall) by the New England Patriots.

This season, Solder played in all 19 of the Patriots’ games, starting 16. Solder was the starting right tackle, and was named to the Pro Football Weekly’s All-Rookie Team.

If New England had won, Solder would have become the seventh Buff to earn a Super Bowl ring in his rookie season, and the first since Tom Ashworth, also a Patriots’ offensive lineman, did so in 2001.

The 31 former Buffs who have earned Super Bowl rings have amassed a total of 47 rings total. There was a Buff – Boyd Dowler – who won Super Bowl rings in Super Bowls I and II, up to last season, when kicker Mason Crosby and linebacker Brad Jones won rings with the Green Bay Packers.

Buffs with multiple Super Bowl rings:

WR – Bowd Dowler – Green Bay (1966; 1967)

DB – Dick Anderson – Miami (1972; 1973)

WR – Cliff Branch – Oakland (1976; 1980; 1983)

DB – Mike L. Davis – Oakland (1980; 1983)

DB – Odis McKinney – Oakland (1980; 1983)

P – Barry Helton – San Francisco (1988; 1989)

OT – Matt Lepsis – Denver (1997; 1998)

P – Tom Rouen – Denver (1997; 1998)

DE – Alfred Williams – Denver (1997; 1998)

OT – Tom Ashworth – New England (2001; 2003; 2004)

LB – Ted Johsnon – New England (2001; 2003; 2004)

TE – Daniel Graham – New England (2003; 2004)

TE – Christian Fauria – New England (2003; 2004)

February 2nd

Recruiting Luncheon notes

For those of us looking for a major announcement concerning facilities (see story, below) at the recruiting luncheon, Thursday was a disappointment.

While Colorado athletic director Mike Bohn did announce that the $7 million video boards had been approved by the Board of Regents, and did officially announce that Colorado would be adding women’s lacrosse for the 2014 season, here’s what Bohn had to say about additional facilities …

“Stay tuned”.

That’s it. Bohn did take the time to sell helmets worn for the USC game – at $5,000 apiece – to raise money to replace the turf inside the practice bubble, but there were no announcements concerning other facility improvements.

Jeremy Bloom

After CU head basketball coach Tad Boyle thanked Jon Embree for helping to restore “Buff Pride”, the featured speaker, Jeremy Bloom was introduced.

Bloom spoke about being a Buff, as well as being an Olympic skier. Highlights of Bloom’s last run in the Winter Olympics in Torino were shown, with Bloom, a pre-race favorite, finishing out of the medals.

Bloom talked about how he dealt with disappointments – that he would give himself 48 hours to dwell on the defeat; 48 hours to mull, replay, and cry over what might have been. Then, Bloom said, that after the 48 hours, he was done with what had taken place, and was ready to move on.

Bloom related his experience to what the Colorado football program has been going through the past six years. “Our 48 hours are over,” Bloom declared. “Time for excuses is over … The right people are in place to bring the swagger back to Boulder.”

Bill McCartney

Coach Mac was his usual self. He told the story about how, many years ago, a man set out to find the perfect horse. He learned about horses. He learned to train horses. He learned what to look for in a good horse.

The man then sent his soldiers out across the lands, looking for horses which met his new criteria. His men brought back 100 horses. The man then trained the horses, including how to come to him whenever he called.

The man then left the horses out in the desert heat, keeping them stalled 100 yards from water. The horses were all dying to get to the water, but the man would not release them. Then, finally, he had the stall opened, calling out to the horses. 99 of the horses went to the water … one came to the man.

It was that horse, the “one in a hundred”, which the man used to start the Arabian breed of horse, recognized around the world as the best horses.

“Jon Embree is one in a hundred”, McCartney declared. Embree is the sort of man, the sort of coach, which can lead the Colorado program back to greatness.

Still, McCartney cautioned, it will take time. Even the Arabian breed, he noted, took several generations to take hold …

—

Coach McCartney was also there to rally the troops. Coach Mac announced a fund-raiser – a pre-Spring game rally in the indoor practice bubble before the Spring Game (April 14th). McCartney also announced that every Thursday night during the season, there would be a pep rally at the First Bank Center in Broomfield, with 5,000 fans expected for each event.

Mark your calendar!

February 1st

Facilities upgrade unveiled

Sorry about the picture quality – it’s from a twitter feed, but it does give you an idea of what is being proposed for an upgrade to Folsom Field.

Which you can compare to the present Folsom Field:

The new building, which will be to the northeast of the stadium, will also come with some additional seating in the northeast corner. When this expansion will take place, how much it will cost, and how it will be paid for, will hopefully be explained at the recruiting luncheon on Thursday.

Rocky Mountain Showdown moved to Sunday

Not a real surprise, when you’ve got 3-9 v. 3-10 …

While the television coverage, and the time for kickoff, have yet to be announced, the Rocky Mountain Showdown between Colorado and Colorado State in Denver has been moved from Saturday, September 1st, to Sunday, September 2nd.

Colorado to add women’s lacrosse team

The University of Colorado has worked with the NCAA minimum of 16 sports for a number of years.

With the new Pac-12 television contract money now in sight, the Buffs are looking to expand their athletic footprint.

Earlier this month Colorado athletic director Mike Bohn said that girls lacrosse is the fastest growing sport at the high school level in Colorado and much of the rest of the nation and that it would make sense for many reasons for CU to add women’s lacrosse. Bohn said at that time the department is targeting the 2013-14 school year for the new women’s program to begin competing. He said it could compete as a club sport prior to that.

Startup costs for the program will be relatively minimal with no new facilities required.Women’s lacrosse is played in the spring and the CU team would play in Folsom Field and likely use the practice bubble and the same outdoor practice fields utilized by the football team.

The program will compete in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation in the sport because the Pac-12 Conference does not sponsor women’s lacrosse. That could change in the future because CU will be the fifth Pac-12 school to field a women’s lacrosse program along with Stanford, Cal, Oregon and USC.

Bohn said earlier this month that CU needed to add a women’s sport to help correct the imbalance in the department between the total number of opportunities offered to men and women and the money spent on men’s and women’s programs as required by Title IX laws.

Women’s lacrosse will be the 10th women’s sport at CU joining women’s basketball, cross country, golf, skiing, soccer, tennis, indoor track, outdoor track and field and volleyball.

Pac-12 Spring goes from February 27th to May 5th

Are you ready for some football?

Colorado opens spring practices on March 10th, and, with a week off for spring break in the middle, will conclude the 15 allotted practices with a Spring game on April 14th.

The rest of the Pac-12, meanwhile, is spread out over most of the spring, going from late February to early May.

The first to get underway is Stanford, which has a bifurcated spring schedule. The Cardinal open spring practice next Monday, February 27th, going for two weeks. Stanford will then take off nearly a month, before resuming practices April 2nd, finishing up with a Spring game the same day as the Buffs, April 14th.

Colorado will also share the April 14th spotlight with Arizona and USC, which will also have their Spring games on that day (which is significant, as coaches like to have potential recruits – still juniors in high school – attend Spring games).

The last team to still be wearing uniforms this Spring will be UCLA. Under new head coach Jim Mora, the Bruins don’t get underway until the Buffs are almost done, opening camp on April 3rd. UCLA will then be the last team to conduct a Spring game, closing up shop on May 5th.

Let the 2012 season get underway …

February 20th

New CSU Stadium not to be on existing open green space

We’ll see it when we see it …

While no sources of funding for the proposed $100 – $200 million Colorado State stadium have been identified, some criteria have been identified. According to an article in the Ft. Collins Coloradoan, the criteria for the stadium are:

• CSU won’t consider putting the stadium on existing open green space, including the intramural fields.
• CSU won’t consider putting the stadium in front of significant existing view sheds so as to protect views of the mountains.
• All recommendations from the Advisory Committee must take into serious account any impact on neighbors in areas adjacent or near a new stadium.
• State appropriation, tuition, fees or taxes will not be considered as funding sources for a stadium project.

In addition to the obvious issues of funding and need (in 2011, Colorado State was 88th in the nation in attendance, at 21,867  per game … 67% of capacity of the existing Hughes Stadium), there is also this … Critics of the stadium proposal said CSU appears more concerned with its athletic image rather than academic performance. A group called Save Our Stadium, Hughes has been formed to fight the stadium idea.

Nice to know that CU is not the only school to find resistance to anything athletic department related …

February 16th

Leach wins/loses in Texas Supreme Court

So, is it really about principle … ?

The Texas Supreme Court on Friday denied former Texas Tech (and current Washington State) head coach Mike Leach’s appeal in his wrongful termination lawsuit against his former team.

The court rejected Leach’s appeal without comment more than two years after he was fired by the university amid allegations that he mistreated a player with a concussion. The player, Adam James, is the son of Craig James, a former star at SMU, former ESPN broadcaster and currently a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Texas.

Leach denied the allegation and later sued the school, saying he suspects an $800,000 bonus he was due the day after his 2009 firing was behind his dismissal.

Leach’s attorneys had challenged an appellate ruling that threw out Leach’s breach of contract claim against Texas Tech based on sovereign immunity for the university. The ruling allowed Leach to try to show Tech’s reasons for firing him were wrong — without monetary relief — and the university appealed that decision to the state’s high court.

So, Leach can sue … he just can’t collect any damages if he wins.

Texas Tech spokesman Dicky Grigg said he hoped the latest decision was “the end of the road.”

“As we’ve said from the beginning, we were right on the law and the facts, and the (Texas) Supreme Court has just held that we were correct on the law,” Grigg said.

Grigg said he didn’t know what Leach could gain moving forward. “We’ll just have to wait and see what that is,” he said. “Whatever the claim is, it’s not monetary.”

Leach attorney Ted Liggett, though, hinted that the case might not be over just yet.

“The facts will come out and finally the truth will be known,” he said. “While we’re disappointed that the supreme court has ruled that Mike can’t be compensated monetarily for the work he’s done, we are encouraged that we finally get to take Texas Tech to trial.”

Stay tuned …  

February 15th

Colorado off the radar in national championship race

Not that it’s a real surprise, what with Colorado coming off of six straight losing seasons, and a 3-10 record, but the Buffs are not turning any heads in the 2012 national championship race.

According to a British sports book, the favorites for the 2012 national championship includes two Pac-12 teams:

LSU Tigers: 4.5 to 1 odds
Alabama Crimson Tide: 5 to 1
USC Trojans: 8 to 1
Oregon: 10 to 1
Oklahoma Sooners: 12 to 1
Florida State Seminoles: 12 to 1
Georgia Bulldogs: 12 to 1

The odds improve for the conference when the Heisman trophy is considered, with USC quarterback Matt Barkley considered the favorite. Pac-12 players on the list:

• USC quarterback Matt Barkley tops the list at 5-1 odds.
• Oregon running back De’Anthony checks in at 25-1 odds.
• Washington quarterback Keith Price is the darkhorse at 40-1.

February 14th

Big 12 schedule skews old rivalries

West Virginia has finally settled its lawsuit with the Big East, allowing the Mountaineers to join the Big 12 this fall, and not have to wait out the contractually agreed to 27 months.

This being the case, the Big 12 has been able to publicly announce its conference schedule for this season.

Texas A&M and Missouri are off the SEC, with West Virginia and TCU becoming the newest members of the Big 12. The changes in partners have made for some strange bedfellows …

- Gone is Texas v. Texas A&M Thanksgiving weekend, replaced with Texas v. TCU.

- Gone is the season-ending Border War between Kansas and Missouri, replaced with the new season-ending Time Zone war between Kansas and … West Virginia.

- The Mountaineers. for their part, have given up the Backyard Brawl with Pittsburgh in order to take on the Jayhawks.

- The very first game of the reconfigured Big 12 will be Kansas hosting TCU on September 15th.

My question: West Virginia plays at Texas on October 6th, then at Texas Tech on October 13th … will the Mountaineers just hang around the Lone Star State for the week, avoiding traveling all the way back to Morgantown in between road trips?

It’s a strange new world. I can’t wait for the Big East scheduling when Boise State and San Diego State schedule games in the east coast …  

February 13th

Conference USA and Mountain West to form a new “Association”

Just don’t call it a merger …

The Mountain West and Conference USA will announce a newly named conference in what is being termed a new association, not a merger of the remaining existing members.

The conference may start as early as 2013-14. The MWC/C-USA will have a regional/divisional makeup of the current membership of the two leagues and will likely include 18 to 24 universities.

“This is an exciting development that will stabilize the current conferences and create the first truly national conference with members in five time zones and television viewership from coast to coast,” UNLV president Neal Smatresk said in a statement. “This partnership brings together like-minded institutions to improve the integrity and stability of intercollegiate athletics.

“We are moving our plans forward rapidly and expect to complete our conversations in the near future. Look for further announcements soon as we work together on this exciting new venture.”

So who’s in?

Break out your atlas …

The new league – which is yet to be named – is expected to consist of  Southern Miss, Marshall, East Carolina, UAB, Tulsa, Rice, UTEP and Tulane from C-USA and Wyoming, Air Force, Colorado State, UNLV, New Mexico, Fresno State, Nevada and Hawaii from the MWC. Hawaii would be a football-only member. Other schools which may be invited include Temple, Idaho, and Utah State.

The presidents and chancellors will have follow-up meetings during the next six months to fully develop the operational issues essential to the formation of the association.

While the move will be spun as a move to protect the members of the association as full FBS partners, don’t look for an automatic bid to be extended to the new league anytime soon.

Also look for spin on how the “student athlete” will not be adversely affected by having to travel across three or more time zones for a conference game. This is not as much an issue for football, with a limited number of road games per season, but anyone want to mark up the cost of Fresno State at East Carolina in women’s volleyball? Marshall at Nevada for a tennis match?

It will be interesting to see how the Colorado State fans try and put a good face on this, rather than acknowledge it for what it is …

… a desperate move by teams who found themselves without a chair when the music stopped.

Cal signs two non-descript prospects

So, it’s not just Colorado who signs “under the radar” players …

Last season, Colorado signed four players to national Letters of Intent after Signing Day in February. Joining the team late were wide receiver Tyler McCulloch, wide receiver Austin Vincent, athlete D.D. Goodson, and offensive lineman Brad Cotner. Of the four, only McCulloch and Vincent were even rated by Rivals, with two stars apiece. Goodson and Cotner, meanwhile, were unrated players.

While the jury is still out as to whether the Colorado coaching staff found diamonds in the rough in these four prospects, it is of some comfort to know that the Buffs are not the only team out there reaching after Signing Day.

Cal has signed two players since Signing Day, 2012. One is defensive lineman Maurice Bennett, from Madison, Mississippi, who is listed as a three-star prospect, but only had offers from Memphis and Washington State. The other new Bear is defensive back Willie Fletcher, from Orange, California, who was unrated by either Rivals or Scout.

So … it’s not just Colorado who is willing to take a shot on some undiscovered/unrecognized/underdeveloped talent.

We just spend a lot more time worrying about it when its the Buffs taking the shot.

February 11th

Rodriguez/Leach considered top hires from Pac-12 off-season

In a CBSSportsline article, Ohio State made the best hire this past season. The hiring of former Florida head coach Urban Meyer was rated as best move by any of the 26 teams who switched head coaches this season.

Arizona’s hire of Rich Rodriguez was rated as the second-best hire overall, stating:

In seven years at West Virginia, Rodriguez won 61 games, reached two BCS bowls and lost only 26 games. In three years at Michigan he lost 22 games. So which Rodriguez does Arizona get? Either way, one thing is certain: He will bring an entertaining, high-scoring offense to Tucson == and even higher expectations. “When you watch us play it won’t be boring,” Rodriguez said. “I want to win the Rose Bowl at the University of Arizona. I want to be in the top 10 in the country every year. Why not Arizona? Why not us? Why can’t we win it all?” Rodriguez has an 18-year coaching record of 120-84-2, including 75-48 at West Virginia and Michigan. This will be Rodriguez’s third FBS head coaching job == and, he says, his last. “This is my final coaching stop,” Rodriguez said. “I hope to be able to do this another 12-15 years.”

No. 3 on the list was another Pac-12 school, Washington State, who took on former Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach:

Leach, 50, returns to coaching for the first time since his controversial firing at Texas Tech in 2009 amid allegations he mistreated a player with a concussion. Leach was 84-43 in Lubbock, leading the Red Raiders to 10 bowl appearances in 10 seasons. The Cougars haven’t been to a bowl game since 2003 or had a winning record in eight years. Yet Leach remains confident he can turn Washington State around. “You can win here and win big, I believe,” Leach said.

Jim Mora, who had an amazing run to end the 2012 recruiting season, was considered no better than the 15th-best hire, while new Arizona State head coach Todd Graham checked in at No. 18.

Jim McElwain, who came from Alabama to Colorado State this off-season, was rated as the No. 9 best hire of the year.

Pac-12 Network studio breaks ground

Get the money train rolling … the Pac-12 is breaking ground on the Pac-12 Network studios next week …

WHO: Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott, Pac-12 Enterprises President Gary Stevenson, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, Kilroy Realty Corporation President and CEO John Kilroy, Former Pac-12 Athletes Jennifer Azzi (Stanford women’s basketball), Ronnie Lott (USC football), Marshawn Lynch (Cal football), Kim Oden (Stanford women’s volleyball), JT Snow (Arizona baseball) and Cal Women’s Swimming Coach and U.S. Olympic Swimming Coach Teri McKeever

WHAT: Will begin the construction of the Pac-12 Studios by putting up the first wall in Studio 1 and doing demolition work on another wall. MATT Construction is the General Contractor, HLW is the architect and Diversified Systems is the Integrator.

WHY: The Pac-12 Studios will be home to the Pac-12 Network and the Pac-12 Digital Network. The Pac-12 Network will showcase 850 live Pac-12 sporting events each year as well as original studio programming. It is scheduled to launch in August, 2012.

WHEN: Monday, February 13 at 11:00 a.m.

WHERE: 370 Third Street, Third Floor, San Francisco, CA 94107

February 8th

Two starting Pac-12 linebackers out?

Stanford and Washington State both had linebackers arrested this week. Washington State dismissed its offender; disciplinary action in Palo Alto is still pending.

Washington State

Linebacker C.J. Mizell has been dismissed from the Washington State football team for a violation of team policy, the school announced Tuesday.

Mizell was arrested Sunday night on allegations of fourth-degree assault and second-degree criminal trespassing stemming from a fight at a fraternity party early Sunday morning, according to Pullman Police.

A statement from WSU said that Mizell is “not being retained.”

Pullman Police Sergeant Dan Dornes said police were called at approximately 12:24 a.m. after Mizell allegedly tried to enter a party at the Delta Tau Delta fraternity house. When Mizell was denied entry, he allegedly “punched one of the guys several times,” Dornes said.

Mizell, who came to WSU from Tallahassee, Fla., recorded 56 tackles in nine starts as a sophomore last season. He started 15 games in his WSU career.

His dismissal follows a WSU career marked by turmoil. Perhaps the most athletically gifted member of the Cougars defense, Mizell frustrated coaches with his lacking work ethic during his freshman year, but appeared to be turning things around last season until injuries slowed him.

Stanford

Star linebacker Shayne Skov was arrested and jailed last weekend for driving under the influence.

A Stanford University Department of Public Safety spokesman said Skov was arrested for driving under the influence Sunday at about 2 a.m. The incident, first reported by The Stanford Daily student newspaper Monday night, occurred on campus.

Skov was pulled over in the parking lot of his dormitory after his vehicle swerved several times, SUDPS spokesman Bill Larson said. Skov was booked at the Santa Clara County jail, he said, and the case is being turned over to the Palo Alto District Attorney’s office.

“We have an expected standard of excellence and conduct for our players and Shayne failed to adhere to those standards,” Stanford coach David Shaw said in a statement released through a team spokesman. “It’s a matter we are taking very seriously. Shayne will be responsible to adhere to any legal responsibilities regarding this event along with ramifications which will be determined by the program.”

Skov’s signature Mohawk and liberal display of eye black made him the unquestioned face and leader of Stanford’s defense.

Skov led the Cardinal with 84 tackles and had 7½ sacks two years ago. He tore a ligament in his left knee in the third game of the 2011 season, sidelining him for the year and likely through most of spring practice.

Best bet: Skov will be suspended for the first two games of the 2012 season.

Why two?

The first two games on the Cardinal schedule this fall are against San Jose State and Duke.

Game three?

USC.

February 6th

Too good to be true?

According to a CBSSportsline article, the Pac-12 has updated its executive regulations, with the new rule stating that non-conference neutral site football games will no longer be permitted unless the conference gets their cut of the media rights.

The language of the new regulation: “No member institution shall enter into an agreement to play a neutral-site football game (except in circumstances where such neutral-site game is the away leg of a home-and-home series) unless such agreement provides the Conference with the exclusive broadcast rights and digital rights in all media, and copyright to such neutral-site game.”

Will this mean the end of the Rocky Mountain Showdown against Colorado State in Denver?

Dare to dream.

But it may not work out that way …

First, it may be that the league will not enforce the new regulation upon existing contracts. The current CU/CSU agreement for Denver runs through 2019 (with the 2020 game, strangely enough, scheduled as a home game for CSU in Ft. Collins). Still, if Buff fans could see the writing on the wall for the end of the series in Denver, they may be willing to put up with the game at Mile High Stadium (okay – Sports Authority Field) for the next eight seasons.

Second, the regulation does not say that neutral-site games against non-conference opponents are prohibited, just that such a game would have to be a Pac-12 Network game, or be the back end of a home-and-home. Would the league will be willing to give some $$ to CSU in exchange for showing CU’s ”exciting” in-state rivalry game with the Rams? Would CSU be willing to give up the media rights in order to have a broadcast partner (note that the RMS for 2012 has been moved to Sunday, in order to try and find a network interested in showing a 3-10 team play a 3-9 team)? Would CSU be willing to play its future ”home” games against Colorado in Denver, and allow CU to play its “home” games at, well, home (which would satisfy the terms of the regulation) in order to preserve the series?

These questions will be ironed out over the next few months/years. Still, as it is right now, Colorado is getting hamstrung with its twelve game schedule. Colorado is bound to play nine Pac-12 games each season, and with a Big Ten opponent every year (in the not-to-distant future) creating a tenth prescribed game. With the CSU game on the calendar each season, Colorado will have only one non-conference game to work with after 2015.

If there are no changes, there will be a lot more Sacramento State’s and Central Arkansas’ in CU’s future.

Getting out from underneath the CSU game would certainly assist in allowing CU to schedule home-and-home games with more quality opponents.

Plus, it would get CU out of Denver …

February 4th

Pac-12 Network numbers keep getting better and better

While the Pac-12 facility arms race continues to heat up – with Colorado still urging fans to “stay tuned”, the chances of any Pac-12 team crying poverty any time soon continue to diminish.

We already knew that the $3 billion, 12-year contract the Pac-12 signed with ESPN and Fox would bring Colorado more than double what it was used to in television revenues. As a member of the Big 12, Colorado brought home $8-$10 million per year. Over the term of the ESPN/Fox contract, the average take will be around $21 million per year (starting out between $15-$18 million next year, and escalating from there).

What we didn’t know was how the Pac-12 Networks would work out financially.

Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott and his team took a risk, at least compared to the model which was out there, the Big Ten Network. The BTN members took less revenue (51%) in exchange for Fox taking care of the setup costs and distribution issues.

The Pac-12 Network is wholly owned by the league, with the conference also taking on all of the costs associated with the start up and administration. Now, Scott and the conference did hedge their bets in owning the league, getting ESPN and Fox to agree to allow 36 football games (three per week, including some marquee games) to be shown on the Network, along with most of the men’s and women’s basketball games.

The thought was that retaining 100% of the rights would pay off … in the long run.

It now appears that the gamble will pay off handsomely, and even sooner than expected.

In an article in the Seattle Times, Bud Withers quoted A.J. Maestas, whose Chicago-based company, Navigate Marketing, does media research and measurement. ”Off the top of my head, four years from today, I would not be surprised if the Pac-12 schools saw $12-15 million distribution (each) from the Pac-12 Networks,” Maestas said. “The truth is, it could actually be 30-40 percent higher than that.”

That’s on top of the average of $21 million per year from the television package.

Bring on women’s lacrosse!

“In my opinion, it will be the most successful sports-network launch in history,” Maestas continued. “It’s an absolute home run, period.”

Why?

First, Pac-12 Networks lined up four partners – Comcast, Time-Warner, Cox and Bright House – that already reach 40 million homes. So if Pac-12 Networks launched today, it’d be No. 11 in the country in sports networks for distribution.

(According to Sports Business Journal, these were the top-10-distributed sports networks for June, rounded off: 1, ESPN, 100.1 million TV homes. 2, ESPN2, 99.9 million. 3, Golf Channel, 83.8 million. 4, Speed, 78.5 million. 5, Versus, 76.2 million. 6, ESPN News, 74.2 million. 7, ESPNU, 73.2 million. 8, NFL Network, 56.9 million. 9, MLB Network, 56.2 million. 10, NBA TV, 55.6 million.)

While Maestas says the 40-million start is a robust number, he adds, “In 12 months, I think they’ll easily pick up another 20-25 million households.”

All that would do is vault the Pac-12 Network saturation past any of the pro leagues’ networks. Remember, the conference hasn’t even gone to DirecTV or the Dish Network yet – or all the other cable carriers out there.

The figure behind the scenes in much of Scott’s blockbuster success in two years is Kevin Weiberg, who has been instrumental on at least two fronts – expansion and the Pac-12 Networks. Before Scott hired him as deputy commissioner 18 months ago, he was Big 12 commissioner, so he knew the sacred cows and vulnerabilities of that league (and boy, have those been exposed). But more recently, he had been with the Big Ten Network for 18 months.

Says Maestas, “I think what we’re seeing in the Pac-12 Networks is Kevin Weiberg’s education in the process from launching the Big Ten Network. I think he said, ‘We get to do it again; here’s the 2.0 version.’ ”

Will the new television and Pac-12 Network revenue fund all of the facilities upgrades Colorado wants to make? No.

Will the new television and Pac-12 Network revenue bring Colorado even with Oregon and USC in terms of revenue and amenities? Of course not – the Ducks and Trojans will also be seeing a financial windfall from these contracts.

But the extra money will make it possible for Colorado to remain in the upper echelon of college sports.

And that’s a good start …

February 1st

Colorado turns in Top 35 class despite 3-10 record

Imagine what these coaches might do with a winning record …

While Colorado undeniably got a boost in the national rankings from the sheer number of signings – the largest recruiting Class since 1978 – there is also something to be said for the job the CU coaching staff did overcoming the burden of six straight losing seasons and a 3-10 record in 2011.

Team Rankings (February 1st):

Rivals: 34th nationally / 8th in the Pac-12

Scout:  29th nationally / 6th in the Pac-12

24/7 Sports: 42nd nationally / 9th in the Pac-12

ESPN: Outside of the top 25 nationally

Where did other players end up?

While the list of Colorado recruits was pretty much a known quantity heading into Signing Day, there were a number of other players CU coveted this recruiting season. A list of some of the players who took official visits to Boulder, and where they wound up:

Linebacker Seth Jacobs – Oklahoma State

Tight end Jalen Cope-Fitzpatrick – USC

Offensive lineman Isaiah Folasa – New Mexico State

Defensive end Kyle Kelley – Arizona

Defensive end Morgan Breslin – USC

Offensive lineman Alexandru Ceachir – UCLA

Offensive lineman Steven Moore – Cal

Linebacker Deaysean Rippy – Pittsburgh

Offensive lineman Shane Brostek – Washington

Tight end Taylor McNamera – Oklahoma

Linebacker Rashawn Hooker – Utah

Former CU commits …

Running back Erich Wilson – Committed to CU August 13th; de-committed November 1st – Signed with Washington

Defensive back Ma’ne Manaea – Committed to CU September 14th; de-committed in November – Signed with Idaho

Defensive lineman Zaheer Webb – Committed to CU September 14th; but never qualified – remains unsigned

Defensive lineman Victor Irokansi – Committed to CU July 12th; de-committed July 28th – Signed with Oklahoma State

Running back Benjamin Catalon – Committed to CU March 14th; de-committed May 12th – Signed with TCU

Colorado high school top ten recruits …

Quarterback Cyler Miles – Washington

Offensive lineman Joey O’Connor – Ohio State

Offensive lineman Paul Thurston – Nebraska

Offensive lineman Shane Callahan – Auburn

Tight end Evan Bayliss – Oregon

Editor’s Note: Spring practices begin on March 10th. The Buffs will go for two weeks before taking off a week for Spring break. The team will then return for two more weeks of practices, culminating with the Spring Game on April 14th. Here is a breakdown of each position battle as we await the opening of spring practice …

Special Teams

Spring Roster: Kickers – Justin Castor (Jr.); Will Oliver (So.) … Punters – Zach Grossnickle (Jr.); Darragh O’Neill (So.); D. J. Wilhelm (So.) … Long Snappers – Ryan Iverson (Jr.); Keegan LaMar (R-Fr.); Clayton Jones (R-Fr.) … Kick Returners – Josh Ford (Jr.); Malcolm Creer (Jr.); Kyle Washington (Jr.); Keenan Canty (So.); Tony Jones (So.); Justin Gorman (So.)

Incoming Roster:  None

What’s at Stake: At stake? The difference between a ten loss season and a bowl bid …

Okay, it may be an exaggeration to say that better special teams play will give the Buffs three more wins this fall – but it’s not a huge exaggeration.

Be prepared to wince. Last season, Colorado was 105th in the nation (out of 120 teams) in punt returns, 115th in kickoff returns, 104th in kick coverage, and 66th in punt coverage. Remember the tag line from head coach Jon Embree’s first recruiting class, that it was all about improving overall speed? Remember how last spring, no kick returners or punt returners were identified (the Buffs virtually ignored punt and kickoff returns), as CU was going to hold open auditions with the 2011 recruits, in hopes of finding a new star to return kicks?

As it turned out, last season Colorado, in 13 games … had 13 punt returns. One more time – the Buffs averaged exactly one punt return per game in 2011, for a whopping total of 56 yards (opponents, meanwhile, had 30 punt returns for 250 yards). Colorado, as you might expect from a 3-10 team, had a lot more opportunities to return kickoffs than their opponents, but averaged over four yards per return less than the opposition. While it was hoped that one or more of the new freshmen would become a fixture returning kicks, but, at the end of the season, irreplaceable senior running back Rodney Stewart led the team in both punt returns and kickoff returns.

A sign could be posted outside the Dal Ward Center this March - Help Wanted: Kickoff and punt returners / Inquire Within.

The above listed players all had at least five returns last season, and all but Malcolm Creer (out after knee surgery in November) will be available this spring. Perhaps a kick returner will emerge from that list, or perhaps a red-shirt freshman (Sherrard Harrington? Nelson Spruce?) will be asked to show what they can do.

It is true that the overall speed of the team has improved over the last two recruiting classes. It is also true that Colorado is losing ground – and games – due to poor special teams play.

It’s time for the new speed to start making a difference on the field.

—

As to the kicking game, there should be little drama. Sophomore kicker Will Oliver and sophomore punter Darragh O’Neill return, having been thrown into the fire as freshmen. While neither was a dominating force, they did perform well. O’Neill was second in the nation amongst freshmen punters, while Oliver set a CU freshman scoring record (passing the mark set by Mason Crosby).

There will be competition this spring, as both kicker Justin Castor and punter Zach Grossnickle, both now juniors, also return. But these are the same two players who had their opportunities to beat out Oliver and O’Neill last season, and failed to do so. It would be an upset if the starting jobs at either position changed hands.

Pressing Questions:

1) Can the Buffs find someone – anyone – who can become a kick returner that other teams fear?;

2) Will the Buff Nation have more to hope for from punt returns this fall than a successful fair catch?;

3) Will the overall improvement in team speed become evident in kickoff and punt return coverage?; and

4) Are the kicker and punter positions set, or will there be renewed competition for those starting jobs?

Defensive backs

Spring Roster: Ray Polk (Sr.); Paul Vigo (Jr.); Parker Orms (Jr.), Terrel Smith (Jr.); Greg Henderson (So.); Jered Bell (So.); Josh Moten (So.); Kyle Washington (So.); Will Harlos (So.); K.T. Tuumalo (So.); Harrison Hunter (So.); Justin Gorman (So.); Sherrard Harrington (R-Fr.); River Thompson (R-Fr.); Brandon Brisco (R-Fr.); Richard Yates (R-Fr.)

Incoming this Fall: Yuri Wright, Kenneth Crawley, Marques Mosley, Jeffrey Hall, John Walker

What’s at Stake: While there is certainly the temptation not to look back (CU 97th in the nation in pass defense last fall), and the temptation to look forward (two four-star cornerback recruits – Yuri Wright and Kenneth Crawley – coming to Boulder this summer), the reality is that the defensive backfield provides one of the most open and interesting battlegrounds of the spring.

Two starters appear to be set.

Senior safety Ray Polk (forever married to his fellow running back recruits of five years ago – the hyped Darrell Scott and the unheralded Rodney Stewart) returns. Polk only missed two starts last fall, and has 26 career starts to his credit. Polk was second on the team in tackles in 2011, with 80, and is one of four returning Buffs who actually had an interception during the Buffs’ 3-10 campaign. There is no reason to watch this spring to see if Polk has learned the position. It’s just a matter of keeping him healthy, and having him take charge of the still very young CU secondary.

The other returning starter is sophomore Greg Henderson. Thrown to the wolves as a true freshman last fall, Henderson responded. A starter from game one, Henderson led the team in pass break-ups, with nine, and was seventh in the team in tackles, with 58. For his efforts, Henderson was chosen by the coaches to receive the Lee Willard Award, given to the team’s outstanding freshman performer.

The rest of the secondary? Up for grabs. One once during the 2011 season did the Buffs trot out the same defensive backs for the first play of the game as they did the game before (CSU followed by Ohio State). In addition to Henderson, three other defensive backs - Kyle Washington, Josh Moten, and D.D. Goodson (now plying his trade at tailback – not only were on the field as true freshmen, but earned their first starts.  Washington, along with juniors Terrel Smith and Paul Vigo, have the most experience at safety, and will likely get the most looks this spring as the coaches try to find a replacement for Anthony Perkins and a solid backup for Ray Polk.

Other than Greg Henderson, keeping track of CU’s cornerbacks – as well as the nickel backs – required not only a keen eye last fall, but a program. Six different players started at left cornerback, while five earned the start at nickel back. Much of the problem can be attributed to injuries (Colorado endured its second-worst injury season on record in 2011, and the defensive backfield was especially hard hit), but to be fair, there was a lack of depth and talent in the defensive backfield as well. When you have a just-coverted wide receiver (Jason Espinoza) starting at nickel back, with a true freshman the following week earning his first career start against the impossible to defend Oregon passing game (as D.D. Goodson did), you know you have problems.

When spring camp opens, there will still be a few defensive backs who are walking wounded. Sophomore Jered Bell was out all of last season with a torn ACL (suffered in August), and is still not a “full go” for the spring, while red-shirt freshman Sherrard Harrington, who sat out the 2011 season with a stress fracture to his hip, is now a “probable” for spring.

Pressing Questions:

1) Can the defensive backfield keep all of its members healthy (which would be a huge step in the right direction)?;

2) Which player will step up as the heir apparent to Anthony Perkins at strong safety?;

3) Can Jered Bell and Sherrard Harrington, who missed out on the debacle of 2011, make an immediate impact this spring?; and

4) Will starters at left cornerback and nickel back emerge, or will the Buff Nation have to wait for Yuri Wright and Kenneth Crawley this August to have their faith in the secondary reinstated?

Linebackers

Spring Roster: Doug Rippy (Sr.); Vince Ewing (Sr.); Jon Major (Sr.); Derrick Webb (Jr.); Lowell Williams (So.); Brady Daigh (So.); Woodson Greer (So.); Jermane Clark (R-Fr.)

Incoming this Fall: None … though that is a bit deceiving. Colorado did not have a linebacker recruit in the Class of 2012, but did have nine defensive linemen and nine defensive backs in the Class. Some of the quicker defensive ends will end up playing in the “Jack” outside linebacker position for the Buffs, while some of the larger safety prospects will also be utilized at nickel back and linebacker.

What’s at Stake: If Colorado is going to improve upon the dreadful defensive numbers posted in 2012 (89th in the nation in rush defense; 97th in pass defense; 102nd in total defense; 109th in scoring defense), it will have to be the linebackers who lead the way. The defensive line is periously thin, and the secondary, while replenished with highly-rated talent, remains young. Heading into the fall, there is no unit on the team which is deeper and more experienced than the linebacker corps.

Senior Jon Major, the only returning captain from 2011, led the team in tackles last fall, with 85 (including three sacks and four other tackles for loss). Fellow senior Douglas Rippy, despite playing in only seven games, was fifth on the team in tackles (62), and also recorded three sacks. Derrick Webb also started seven games last fall, though that number would have been higher had Colorado not faced so many spread offenses (CU had a nickel back on the field for the first play from scrimmage eight times in 2011). Major, Rippy, and Webb look to be in line to receive the majority of snaps in 2012.

But that does not mean that spring practices will be devoid of drama. Douglas Rippy, who suffered torn ligaments in his knee against Washington, underwent surgery on November 15th, and will be out for the spring. Rippy’s absence will help give other Buff linebackers the opportunity to demonstrate that they deserve playing time this fall. Senior Vince Ewing has spent the majority of his CU career at safety, but will use his senior campaign to show his talents at linebacker (while also trying to overcome chronic knee problems which have plagued his career). Brady Daigh (82 plays) and Woodson Greer (40 plays) did not see much action in their freshmen campaigns, but they are the Buffs’ future at linebacker, so this spring would be a good time to show that they deserve more playing time as sophomores. Lowell Williams, also a sophomore this year, only saw action on special teams last year, while red-shirt freshman Jermane Clark will be looking to see the field for the first time in 2012.

Overall, the linebackers are very strong in the starting lineup, but there is not much depth or experience behind Major, Rippy, and Webb. Unless the CU coaching staff is counting upon an impact freshman recruit from the Class of 2013, this spring will be a good opportunity to see which players will contribute this fall … and start in 2013.

Pressing Questions:

1) With the fall starters all but set, can Colorado keep Jon Major and Derrick Webb healthy … while Douglas Rippy continues to mend?;

2) Are sophomores Brady Daigh, Woodson Greer, and Lowell Williams future starters – and stars – for CU linebackers coach Brian Cabral?; and

3) Will the non-starters show enough to render the coaching staff confident of the Buffs’ depth at linebacker, or will there be more position changes, with defensive ends and/or safeties given more time at the linebacker positions?

Defensive Line

Spring Roster: Defensive tackle - Will Pericak (Sr.); Eric Richter (Sr.); Nate Bonsu (Jr.); Kirk Poston (So.); Defensive end – Chidera Uzo-Diribe (Jr.); Juda Parker (So.); Andre Nichols (So.); Kyle Koch (R-Fr.); Casey Walker (R-Fr.); John Tuso (R-Fr.)

Incoming this Fall: Defensive tackle – Justin Solis; Tyler Henington; Josh Tupou; Kory Rasmussen; Defensive end – De’Jon Wilson; Kisima Jagne; John Stuart; Samson Dafovalu; Derek McCartney (grayshirt, will join Buffs in January)

What’s at Stake: For the defensive line this spring, what is at stake is actually very little. It’s a perfect storm for defensive line coaches Mike Tuiasosopo and Kanavis McGhee – a large senior class leading to a large recruiting class, but with none of the new defensive line recruits in Boulder for spring practices. As a result, the defensive line this spring will bear little resemblance to the defensive line which will line up against Colorado State on September 2nd.

The nine defensive line recruits reprensent the highest number of players ever signed in one class at CU, and those nine will have some work to do when they get to campus this this fall. “It’s a great need for our team,” Tuiasosopo told BuffaloSportsNews.net. “When I first got here last year, and I looked at (the defensive line roster), I was like, ‘Holy Schmolie’. What a major hole.”

How thin is the current roster? Colorado has six – six! – defensive linemen on scholarship on the roster this spring, and one of them, Nate Bonsu, is out for the spring after undergoing off-season shoulder surgery.

This is not to say that the defensive line is devoid of talent. Will Pericak returns for his senior season having started 37 consecutive games, best on the team. Last fall, Pericak was fourth on the team in tackles, with 64, and led the team in quarterback pressures, with eight. Also back is junior Chidera Uzo-Diribe, who has seven career starts in his 25 games as a Buff. After that, though, the pickings are slim. Sophomore Juda Parker, who also plays linebacker in the Buffs’ hybrid defense, was in for all of 109 plays last season; senior Eric Richter, seven plays; sophomore Kirk Poston, six plays. All three were behind Nick Kasa in terms of plays and tackles last season – and Kasa switched over to tight end in November.

Come August, a great deal of attention will be paid to the Colorado defensive line. “Coming in, like I’ve said to every one of those guys (in the recruiting class), you’ve got to come in here and compete for a job,” said Tuiasosopo. “One or more of you may end up being our starters. So you have to think about coming in here and competing for a job.”

In the meantime, though, look for Colorado to run a modified spring practice, as there are simply not enough bodies along the defensive line to run a normal practice. Just like last spring, there is a very good likelihood that the Spring Game will be nothing more than a Spring Scrimmage.

Pressing Questions:

1) Will there be enough warm bodies in spring practice for the defensive line to compete in any sort of meaningful way?;

2) Will any of the walk-on players – Andre Nichols; Kyle Koch; Josh Tuso – take advantage of the personnel vacuum to earn a spot in the fall rotation?

Offensive Line

Spring Roster: Ryan Dannewitz (Sr.); David Bakhtiari (Jr.); Gus Handler (Jr.); Jack Harris (Jr.); Daniel Munyer (So.); Kawai Crabb (So.); Alex Lewis (So.); Marc Mustoe (R-Fr.); Stephane Nembot (R-Fr.); Brad Conter (R-Fr.); Alex Kelley (Fr.)

Incoming this fall: Gerrad Kough; Jeromy Irwin; Ed Caldwell

What’s at Stake: Colorado loses two starters along the offensive line – Ethan Adkins and Ryan Miller – and six offensive linemen altogether. The Buffs do have talent returning along the line, but much of it is young and unproven. Junior David Bahktiari returns at left tackle, and will be the cornerstone of the CU line in 2012. Senior Ryan Dannewitz returns at right tackle, and junior Gus Handler, who had more snaps than any other returning player (774) will be back at center.

This leaves the two guard positions to fill. One player Buff fans had anticipated being a likely candidate to fill one of those slots, Paulay Asiata, has left the team. Junior Jack Harris, a prized recruit from several years back, will need to step up after being injured for most of the 2011 season. Former defensive lineman Stephane Nembot is an intriguing possibility for the Buffs, but is still learning how to play on the offensive side of the ball. Of the remaining players, one fresh face who could make an immediate impact is Alex Kelley. A holdover from the Class of 2011, Kelley gray-shirted this past fall, and enrolled at CU in January. Kelley still has five years to play four, but now he has an extra year of weight training to utilize to his advantage.

Pressing Questions

1) Will the three returning starters – Bakhtiari, Dannewitz and Hander – solidify their positions, and give Buff fans confidence that the offensive line can carry a unit breaking in a new quarterback and a new running back?;

2) Can any of the other returning contributors from last season – Daniel Munyer, Kaiwi Crabb, Alex Lewis – step up and make their presence known as potential starters for this fall?;

3) Can Jack Harris return from an ankle injury suffered last September, and become a dominant force?; and

4) Will the move of Stephane Nembot, a star defensive line recruit from last season, to the offensive side of the ball, prove to be a wise move?

Tight Ends

Spring Roster: Nick Kasa (Sr.); Alex Wood (Jr.); Scott Fernandez (Jr.); Kyle Slavin (So.); Cordary Allen (So.)

Incoming this fall: Vinent Hobbs; Austin Ray; Sean Irwin

What’s at Stake: When Colorado head coach Jon Embree and offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy promised to install a pro-style offense. For the offense to be successful, the Buffs need a pair of tight ends who can not only block for the running game, but be able to keep linebackers and safeties honest by hauling in catches over the middle.

Last season, it is safe to say, the tight end position did not fulfill its role. Senior Ryan Deehan had 24 catches for 322 yards and one touchdown, while sophomore DaVaughn Thornton was generally ineffective, switch to wide receiver during the season. Former defensive end Nick Kasa took over for Thornton, catching his first pass in the season finale against Utah.

This spring, while Colorado waits for three tight ends to join the team for fall drills, there is little for CU coaching staff to work with. Kasa, who was a four-star defensive end lured away from Florida several years ago, will have his first full spring at tight end. Kyle Slavin impressed coaches and fans last spring, but then didn’t catch a single pass all season. The remaining scholarship tight end suiting up this spring is Cordary Allen, who was recruited as a running back.

Pressing Questions:

1) Can Nick Kasa, who failed to meet expectations as a four-star defensive lineman, transform himself into a Pac-12 quality tight end in just one off-season?; and

2) Will Cordary Allen and Kyle Slavin take advantage of the opportunity provided by the lack of depth at the position this spring, or will Colorado coaches be forced to wait until fall drills to find their starting tight ends?

Wide Receivers

Spring Roster: Dustin Ebner (Sr.); Paul Richardson (Jr.); Jarrod Darden (Jr.); DaVaughn Thornton (Jr.); Tommy Papillion (Jr.); Alex Turbow (Jr.); Keenan Canty (So.); Tyler McCulloch (So.); Gabe Castillo (So.); Nelson Spruce (R-Fr.)

Incoming this fall: Gerald Thomas; Jeffrey Thomas; Peyton Williams

What’s at Stake:  Paul Richardson can be good – at times very good. The junior wide receiver blew away a school record against Cal, collecting 11 passes for 284 yards, besting the old mark by 62 yards.

Paul Richardson can also be a non-factor. Other than the Cal game, Richardson had only one other game with more than five catches. While it is true that Richardson missed three full games and parts of two others due to injury, it is also true that Richardson finished the season with only 45 receptions and five touchdowns. And this was with Toney Clemons collecting 43 catches and eight touchdowns to take some of the heat off of the Buffs’ only real deep threat.

So, for Richardson to be effective in 2012, he not only needs one or more of his fellow wideouts to fill Clemons’ shoes … Richardson needs them to be better than Clemons.

Any candidates?

The only other returning wide receivers with as many as ten catches for all of 2011 are sophomores Keenan Canty (14 catches, 161 yards) and Tyler McCulloch (ten catches, 96 yards, onr touchdown). Neither player had a single game with as many as 50 yards receiving.

There is one other returning scholarship player at wide receiver who has caught a pass (senior Dustin Ebner and junior Jarrod Darden were shut out last season) … DaVaughn Thornton. Recruited as a tight end, Thornton was not able to make a name for himself at that position. Thornton played a little at both wide receiver and tight end in 2011, collecting six catches for 69 yards. Thornton will move full time to wide receiver this spring.

Red-shirt freshman Nelson Spruce will be able to show what he has to offer as well this spring. While there is hope that the 6’2″, 195-pound wideout from Westlake Village (the same hometown as 2012 recruit Justin Solis) will have an impact this year, it has to be remembered that Spruce, like Tyler McCulloch, was a true freshman last year. The Buffs tore off the red-shirt of McCulloch, with modest results, and left the red-shirt on Spruce.

Pressing Questions:

1) Will Paul Richardson be able to assert himself as a dominant, All-Pac-12 wide receiver? Will he be able to find a connection with the new Colorado quarterback, whoever that turns out to be?;

2) Will DaVaughn Thornton be able to complete his move to wide receiver, and assert himself as a large (6’4″, 220-pounds), fast wideout which creates matchup problems for Pac-12 cornerbacks?;

3) Will any of the young wide receivers currently on the roster make a name for themselves, or will the Buff Nation have to wait until fall to find a wide receiver to compliment Paul Richardson?

Running backs

Spring Roster: Josh Ford (Jr.); Malcolm Creer (So.); D.D. Goodson (So.); Tony Jones (So.); Nick Plimpton (FB)(R-Fr.); Clay Norgard (FB)(Fr.)

Incoming this Fall: Donta Abron; Terrence Crowder; Devien Payne; Christian Powell (FB)

What’s at Stake: In 2011, Rodney Stewart became the first player in Colorado history to lead the team in rushing in all of his four years at CU. 

Let’s try that one again … Before Rodney Stewart, no one who ever wore black-and-gold had ever led the team in rushing for consecutive years. Granted, before freshmen became eligilble in the early 1970′s, such a feat would not have been possible, but Stewart did break a tie he had held with the likes of Bobby Anderson, Charlie Davis, Lamont Warren, Herchell Troutman and Hugh Charles – all who led the team in rushing three years … um … running.

Though small in stature, Stewart leaves some big shoes to fill.

The player returning who had the most carries last season is sophomore Tony Jones. Filling in when Stewart was injured in the middle of the season, Jones had 297 yards on 78 carries, scoring two touchdowns. Jones was also fourth on the team in receptions, with 27 catches for 168 yards and two more scores. While Jones had most of his carries while Stewart was inactive, Jones also had a strong finish, subbing for Stewart in the second half in the season finale against Utah. Playing with attitude, Jones had 12 carries for 72 yards, not including a 16-yard touchdown run on the first play of the fourth quarter which was called back due to a holding penalty.

So, is Jones, who is about the same size as Stewart (5’7″, 175-pounds) the answer?

Well, if it isn’t Jones, it might be Josh Ford. Ford is a little bigger than Jones (5’9″, 195-pounds), but isn’t a bruiser. Last season, Ford had only 22 carries all season, going for 128 yards and one touchdown.

It appears that Jones and Ford will be the featured backs this spring because, well, there ain’t nobody else.

Malcolm Creer suffered a knee sprain against Arizona State last fall, and underwent surgery in November. While Creer will be back for the fall, he is definitely out for spring practices.

And D.D. Goodson? Well, the Buffs haven’t quite figured out what to do with him. Listed as an “athlete” on the official CU roster, Goodson saw action as a defensive back in four games in 2011, posting eight tackles in 98 plays. With a lack of running backs – to go with a wealth of incoming defensive backs – the Buffs might have Goodson work with the running backs this spring.

The lack of running backs is matched by the lack of fullbacks on the roster. Red-shirt freshman Nick Plimpton, an invited walk-on, is the only fullback who returns from last season. Enter true freshman Clay Norgard, a member of the recruiting Class of 2012, who enrolled early and will be available for spring practices.

Come August, the running back corps will not be so depleted, with three freshmen running backs added to the roster, to go with another fullback. Donta Abron, Davien Payne, and Terrence Crowder will join the team as tailbacks, with Christian Powell joining Norgard at fullback. (Injury Update: Crowder was injured five plays into his senior season, and underwent surgery last September. His rehabilitation is going so well that he expects to run track this spring, and be 100% ready for drills this August).

Pressing Questions -

1) Will Tony Jones be able to build upon his strong finish to his freshman campaign, staking out a claim for the No. 1 tailback position come September?;

2) Will Clay Norgard be able to adjust from high school football to the college game quickly enough for Colorado to have confidence to install the pro-style offense head coach Jon Embree and offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy wish to run?

Quarterbacks

Spring Roster: Brent Burnette (Sr.); Nick Hirschman (So.); Connor Wood (So.); Stevie Dorman (R-Fr.); John Schrock (R-Fr.)

Incoming this fall: Shane Dillon

What’s at Stake – The Buffs’ 2012 record, the future of the program, and life as we know it.

Okay, perhaps it’s not that dramatic, but it’s not a stretch to say that the Colorado football program this fall will only go as far as the new quarterback will take it. Gone is three-year starter Tyler Hansen, who leaves in his wake virtually no experience at the position. The only other quarterback on the roster who took snaps from center last season was Nick Hirschman. The red-shirt freshman saw action in five games, but his only real opportunity for significant action came in a start against Arizona State.  Hirschman went 8-for-18 for 71 yards against the Sun Devils, but threw two poor passes which should have been intercepted. The CU coaches then yanked the shaky Hirschman in favor of Hansen, even though the senior had suffered a concussion the previous week, and had practiced little the week of the game.

Still, Hirschman might have been the favorite to take over the starting position this spring, but in January Hirschman underwent foot surgery, and his status for spring practice remains uncertain. If Hirschman is not a full go, the Buffs will have Burnette, Wood, Dorman and Schrock competing for reps this spring.

Brent Burnette has playing experience against 1-A competition, if you count playing as a backup for Middle Tennessee … in 2009. Burnette had a chance last spring and summer to impress the coaches and his teammates that he was ready to step in as Hansen’s primary backup, but lost out to Hirschman, a red-shirt freshman.

Stevie Joe Dorman was not slated to be a major factor last fall, with a red-shirt his destiny coming out of Texas as a true freshman. Still, Dorman slid down the depth chart as the fall went on, and will have to take great strides this spring in order to put himself back into the conversation as a viable backup.

John Schrock, an invited walk-on from Kansas City, did make a good impression last season. Staring out well behind Burnette, Hirschman and Dorman in terms of time with the new system, Schrock nonetheless continued to impress and improve throughout the fall. While it remains doubtful Schrock will see playing time in 2012, his stock as an option for the backup position continues to rise.

Which leaves us with Connor Wood. A transfer from Texas, Wood is being counted upon to take the reins of the Colorado offense and make it a competitive force in the Pac-12. A member of the recruiting Class of 2010, Wood, a 6’4, 210-pound prospect from Houston, was considered a four-star player when he signed with the Longhorns. Rivals rated Wood as the No. 3 pro-style prospect from the Class, and the No. 113 overall prospect in the country. Scout, meanwhile, tabbed Wood as the No. 9 quarterback nationally, and had this to say about Wood: “An excellent overall athlete, Wood has the ability to throw it a mile or take off and run. Has experience in a spread option and is comfortable running the option out of the spread offense. His size and armstrength help tremendously with his accuracy as he doesn’t have to muscle up on throws to get them downfield.”

Texas did not have a set quarterback for the future when Wood arrived, and, despite issues at the position the past two seasons, did not see Wood as the answer. Rather than carry a clipboard in Austin, Wood transferred to Colorado last August, and will be playing as a sophomore this season.

Pressing Questions -

1) With Nick Hirschman out for spring practices (or, at best, limited as to his participation), can Connor Wood assert himself as the starting quarterback, or will Buff fans spend the spring and early summer hoping that Shane Dillon will be the answer?; and

2) Who amongst the group of Burnette, Dorman and Schrock will identify themselves as a viable backup, in case either Wood or Dillon (or both) fail to materialize as the CU Quarterback of the Future?

February 19th

Here we go again?

Stop me if you’ve heard this before …

Another top in-state offensive lineman has chosen to leave the state, instead of playing for Colorado.

Chris Fox, a four-star prospect in the eyes of both Rivals and Scout, has given his verbal commitment to Michigan. Fox, considered by Rivals to be the No. 46 overall prospect in the nation, became the ninth player (with eight of them being four star recruits) to already give their commitment to the Wolverines.

“I’ve known I wanted to go there since I went to their summer camp last year and there’s nothing better than Michigan,” Fox told GoBlueWolverine.com.  “I’ve just known in my mind that that’s where it’s at. It has everything… the coaches, facilities, and location… I’ve got tons of family out there. It’s the best.”

In addition to Colorado, Fox had offers from most of the Big Ten, as well as schools like Florida State from the ACC and Missouri from the SEC.

Last season, four of the top five prospects out of the state of Colorado were offensive linemen, with all four opting to go out of state: Joey O’Connor (Ohio State); Paul Thurston (Nebraska); Shane Callahan (Auburn) and Alex Kozan (TBD – but CU is not in the running).

February 13th

Colorado forced to be selective for Class of 2013

From a wealth of scholarships to offer to a dearth.

Colorado signed 27 players on Signing Day, the largest Class at CU since 1978.

That large Class, though, will be offset by a much smaller Class in 2013. The Buffs only have ten seniors on scholarship. With attrition, the number is expected to rise to about 15 to 18 by February, 2013.

Which leaves the margin for error with this Class very small.

“It will be basically this: If you don’t want the kid to come, don’t offer,” Embree said when asked how selective they will be with 2013 offers given the smaller class size. “Don’t extend an offer, and then he calls the next day [to commit] and you have buyer’s remorse. That’ll be the first criteria. We, our position coaches, better be sure. If you only get one [player at a position], you better be sure that’s the kid you want with that one. That will be how we go along building it.”

32 juniors in the Rivals.com database already claim a verbal offer from the Buffaloes (31 in the Scout database)

Included on those lists are four in-state prospects.

The local recruit drawing the most early interest is Parker (Colo.) Ponderosa offensive tackle Chris Fox. The 6-foot-6, 297-pound lineman received his first offer from CU after showing well at the Buffs’ Big Man camp last June. He has since added offers from Ohio State, Michigan, Iowa and Purdue. Fox also lists Notre Dame, Oregon State, Washington and UCLA amongst his top choices for school.

Parker (Colo.) Chaparral tight end Mitchell Parsons, Arvada (Colo.) Ralston Valley offensive tackle Dan Skipper and Denver East running back Phillip Lindsay are the other three in-state players claiming offers from Colorado. To date, none of these three players have been rated by either Rivals or Scout.

February 9th

Never too early …

Yes, you read it correctly. It’s already time to start looking at the Colorado recruiting Class of 2013. The Buffs will only have 15-18 scholarships to work with, so this next Class will have to be more about quality and less about quantity.

One name you are going to be hearing about a great deal over the next 12 months is Chris Fox. A 6’6″, 297-pound offensive tackle from Ponderosa high in Parker, Colorado, Fox is considered to be a four-star prospect. When Rivals released its top 250 players in the nation list this week, Fox was the only player from the state of Colorado to make the list, coming in at No. 46. (Rivals bio).

Fox already has an impressive offer sheet, with many of the schools who have known offers coming from the Big Ten, including Ohio State, Michigan, Iowa and Purdue. The list is certain to grow over the next few months, so the Colorado coaches will have their work cut out for them.

With the offensive line always an area of need, combined with the fact Colorado missed out on some top in-state offensive line talent with this recruiting Class, special attention will be paid by the Buff Nation to the recruitment of Chris Fox.

And so it begins …

Colorado head coach Jon Embree talks about the Class of 2012:

DONTA ABRON – RB

Just the facts … Committed December 12th … Abron is a running back prospect from Upland, California. Abron is 5’9″, 180-pounds. Abron is the teammate of fellow CU commits Marques Mosley, a defensive back who committed December 20th, and fullback Christian Powell, who committed January 31st.  Rivals bio  Scout bio ESPN bio

What others say about Abron … Abron is considered to be a two-star prospect by both Scout and Rivals. Abron is listed as the No. 113 running back in the nation by Scout. Despite the relatively low opinion held by the recruiting services of Abron, he was the Offensive Player of the Year for the All-Inland Division team by SouthernCaliforniaPreps.com. For a 12-1 Highlanders team, Abron had 252 carries for 1,754 yards and – wait for it – 33 touchdowns. Abron had eight 100-yard games, with six of those going for over 175 yards. Abron was 26th in the nation in rushing, and 14th in the nation in scoring.

Abron has other offers from … only a handful of schools, none of them from a BCS conference. The offers for Abron are from Idaho, San Diego State, New Mexico State, and San Jose State. 

In his own words … “I know I have an opportunity as soon as I get up there to start and play,” Abron told BuffaloSportsNews.net. Abron’s host for his official visit was Rodney Stewart, himself a two-star recruit. ”That helped out a lot,” he said. “Talking to him, he was telling me about the coaching staff and everything was positive.” About his commitment to Colorado, Abron told BuffStampede.com, When I got home from my official visit, I sat down and talked the trip over with my dad and it just became apparent that I should commit. I knew I wasn’t going to make a decision without hearing my dad’s opinion first. The trip was great. The academics are great, the campus is great … At first going out there, I thought the cold weather would be a problem but it was actually nice being out there in the cool weather. It wasn’t as bad as some people make it out to be. The coaches were endearing up there and I felt that they are building something special and I just want to be a part of that.”

What will he bring to Colorado? “I have a good combination of power and speed. And I am a student of the game. I am always willing to learn more and more. I am also a team player.”

KENNETH CRAWLEY – DB

Just the facts … Committed January 22nd – Crawley is a defensive back prospect from Washington D.C. Crawley is 6’1″, 170-pounds, and is the Woodson high teammate of defensive back commits John Walker and defensive back commit De’jon Wilson (in case you’re wondering, the Woodson Warriors went 6-5 this past season). The trio will join former teammate Sherrard Harrington, a defensive back from the Class of 2011 (who was injured last summer, and red-shirted last fall). Rivals bio Scout bio

What others say about Crawley… Crawley is considered to be a four-star prospect by Rivals, but only a three-star prospect by Scout. Crawley is rated as the No. 22 cornerback in the nation by Rivals; ranked at No. 44 by Scout. “He is one of the stickiest cover corners we have seen all year and is rarely out of position on a thrown football,” according to Rivals analysts Mike Farrell and Josh Helmholdt. “Crawley is not a thick cornerback, but he is really strong in bump coverage because his feet are so good he can match the opposing wide receiver stride-for-stride.” According to ESPN, “Crawley has the size, ball skills and athleticism college coaches covet out on the perimeter. While he is slight in stature and needs to add bulk, he possesses good height and length and the ranginess to make a lot of plays in coverage”.

For H.D. Woodson, Crowley had 33 tackles this past season (21 unassisted), four interceptions, and a blocked punt. On offense, Crawley had ten catches for 266 yards and four touchdowns.

Crawley had other offers from … every corner of the nation. Dozens of schools were after Crawley’s “talents” (Crawley’s tweet about his commitment indicated that he was taking his “talents” to Colorado), including Arkansas, Georgia, Clemson, Michigan, Ohio State, Oklahoma, and UCLA. Crawley had been a Tennessee commit since last summer. “I’m really excited about it,” Crawley told VolQuest.com back in August. “They had been on me since I camped down there and I didn’t want to rush things. Tennessee is the place that I couldn’t get out of my mind and I realized it’s where I want to be. The coaches were so excited. I think they were more excited than I was.” By December, though, Crawley had re-opened his recruitment, and decided to take other visits. Crawley came to Boulder in December, and hopes were that he would join teammate De’jon Wilson, who had de-committed from Kansas and had committed to Colorado. “What De’Jon is doing is not really going to affect my decision,” Crawley told Rivals.com on December 29th. “We grew up together and we always dreamed of playing college ball together but things change.” A week before his commitment, Crawley had narrowed his choices down to Colorado, Georgia, Ohio State, and Oklahoma, with a final push made by Kansas. The weekend of his commitment, Crawley took an official visit to Kansas (along with former KU commit De’jon Wilson). 

TERRENCE CROWDER – RB

Just the facts … Committed June 13th … Crowder is a running back prospect from Galena Park, Texas. Crowder is 5’10″, 212-pounds, and runs a 4.48 in the 40. Rivals bio YouTube highlight video Scout bio ESPN bio

What others say about Crowder … Crowder is rated as a two-star prospect by Rivals, and a three-start prospect by Scout. Crowder is listed as the No. 96 running back in the nation by Scout.

Just five carries into his senior season, Crowder tore his ACL, and was lost for the season. Crowder had his surgery in September, and began rehab in October. Crowder will likely be limited in his participation in fall camp, and will likely, barring injuries to other backs, be a red-shirt candidate in 2012.

In his junior year, Crowder rushed for 1,338 yards and 15 touchdowns, helping his team to a 7-4 record. Crowder was named first-team all-district in his junior season. “Terrence is a big kid at 5-foot-10, 212-pounds and he is extremely strong,” Ray Zepeda, Crowder’s high school coach, told BuffStampede.com. “He is a 315-pound bench presser. And his ability to run through tackles and combine that with a little bit of shiftiness as well, a little bit of a burst, it is a combination that you don’t see in too many big backs. He can get around the corner when he has to but obviously his natural strength is getting his pads turned north and south and getting vertical. But he does have the burst and the top-end speed to get away from people and run around the corner as well and I think that is what makes him an attractive Division-1 running back recruit.”

Crowder had other offers from … only a handful of schools. Crowder did have scholarship offers from Texas-San Antonio, North Texas, and Louisiana-Lafayette, though Crowder’s coach believed that other offers were imminent. “He had some other offers and he is still getting a lot of attention from some of the Big 12 schools without a formal offer,” said Zepeda last summer, before Crowder’s injury. “I know that Nevada was real interested in him as well. He is a kid that rushed for 1,300 yards and 15 touchdowns. We have a pretty good amount of coaches that come through our campus each year but in particular, we had quite a few this spring come through and I think that they were very pleased with what they saw in Terrence, both on film and in person. His stock is rising. I think that Colorado got in there early to their benefit and I think that has a lot to do with the decision that he has made. I think that he would have seen quite a few more offers come through for him.”

In his own words … “Colorado said they love the way I run the ball,” Crowder told BuffStampede.com just before he committed. “They think I could be someone that could come in and help lead them to being a dominant team in the Pac-12 … I am an up-field runner. I don’t run to the side, but rather between the tackles and up the field. I am working on my blocking right now because my coaches said that is something I need to improve on.”

On his rehabiliation after surgery … “They (the CU coaching staff) told me they are committed to me and they can’t wait for me to get out there,” Crowder said. “I will go through my rehab, head out there and hopefully get to play a little bit next year.”

SHANE DILLON – QB

Just the facts … Committed May 12th … Dillon is a quarterback from El Cajon, California. Dillon is 6’5″, 185-pounds, and can run a 4.6 in the 40. Rivals bio Scout bio  You Tube highlights from Dillon’s junior year ESPN bio

What others say about Dillon … Dillon is considered a three-star quarterback prospect by Scout, is listed as a member of the Scout 300 nationally, and is rated as the No. 28 pro-style quarterback prospect in the country. Rivals last summer rated Dillon as a four-star prospect, and has Dillon listed amongst its Top 250 nationally (No. 227). Dillon then slipped out of the Top 250, and was dropped to a three-star candidate. Rivals rated Dillon as its 13th-highest rated pro-style quarterback.

In 2011, in leading his team to an 10-3 record, Dillon posted 2,873 yards passing yards, with 22 touchdowns and nine interceptions. Dillon also had seven touchdowns rushing. Dillon threw for 315 yards and accounted for three touchdowns as he led El Cajon (Calif.) Christian to a 32-29 victory over Santa Fe Christian in the CIF San Diego Section Division V championship game. His 82-yard touchdown strike to Phillip George with 5:50 remaining in the fourth quarter proved to be the game-winning points. 

A Scout.com player evaluation by Scott Kennedy notes that Dillon is “tall and still thin, but has a quick release and a live arm. Despite his lack of overall size, Dillon shows toughness and the ability to stand tall in the pocket. He’s not a zone-read guy. He’s a drop-back, sling it guy,” Christian offensive coordinator and athletic director David Beezer told AztecSportsReport.com, “He manages games well, he’s excellent in the two-minute drill and he’s a team leader.”

Dillon had other offers from … a good number of schools, including Arizona, Cincinnati, Florida State, Ohio State, and Vanderbilt. Dillon made the rounds this spring, including a trip to Boulder in April. “It was my first trip to Colorado and I loved it. It was cool,” Dillon told BuffStampede.com on April 22nd. “[Colorado quarterbacks] coach [Rip] Scherer told me I was definitely a guy they would offer straight up just from watching my film, but they wanted to get me out there to talk to me in person. I took the trip out there with my dad and my brother and they offered. I loved the campus at Colorado. I love that it is a compact campus right by the mountains. It is beautiful. And [Buffs head] coach [Jon] Embree is way cool. He gave us a great tour. He made us feel like we were part of the family. So that was really great.”

There were some that speculated that Dillon might change his commitment after Colorado accepted Texas transfer Connor Wood. Not the case. “A lot of people have been asking me about it,” Dillon told BuffaloSportsNews.net in October. “Actually I kind of like the fact that they brought in a kid from Texas who is a pretty good guy off the field and a good guy on the field, and someone that is going to bring in some competition. Competition brings out the best in you. I kind of like the fact that I’m going to have to go in there and work for my job and earn it.”

JEFFREY HALL – DB

Just the facts …. Committed January 29th … Hall is a defensive back prospect from LaPlace, Louisiana. Hall is 5’11″, 180-pounds. Rivals bio Scout bio 

What others had to say about Hall … Hall is considered to be a three-star prospect by Rivals, but only a two-star wide receiver prospect by Scout. The St. Charles Catholic high team Hall played for went 15-0 this past season, winning the Louisiana 3A state championship. Hall was named a first-team All-District defensive back this past fall.

Hall had other offers from … a number of other BCS conference schools, including Arizona and Kansas State. Indiana appeared to be the Buffs’ greatest competition, with Hall taking an official visit to Bloomington January 20th. Hall was scheduled to take an official visit to Arizona this weekend, but cancelled the trip. Missouri, which is moving to the SEC next season (and would be playing in Hall’s backyard) made a late push for Hall’s services, but he stuck with his “soft commitment” to the Buffs, given several days before he formally said “yes” to Colorado.

Part of Hall’s hesitation to give his commitment had to do with his being a star baseball player (other schools, including North Texas and a pair of Louisiana schools) offered him the opportunity to play both sports. There is a chance that Hall may still opt for baseball over football, but has indicated that he would have to be drafted “in the first three rounds” of the MLB draft (to be conducted June 4th-6th).

In his own words … The other reason Hall almost balked had to do with Colorado receiving commitments from two other defensive backs – two four-star defensive backs – in the week leading up to Hall’s commitment. “I was still undecided because they had signed two other cornerbacks, but when (Embree) came out, he set everything straight,” Hall told BuffaloSportsNews.net. Embree and assistant coach Eric Bieniemy made an in-home visit with Hall the week before Signing Day. After that visit, Hall felt good about committing to CU. “(Crawley and Wright) have to compete for their spot just like I have to compete for mine,” he said.

TYLER HENINGTON – DT

Just the facts … Committed March 23rd – Henington is a defensive tackle prospect from Mullen high in Denver, Colorado. Henington is 6’3″, 282-pounds. Rivals bio Scout bio  ESPN bio

What others say about Henington … Henington is rated as a three-star recruit prospect by both Rivals and Scout. Rivals sees Hennington as the 8th-best player in the state of Colorado this fall, while Scout rates Henington as the No. 63 defensive tackle in the nation. Henington is rated as the fourth-best in-state prospect by ColoradoPrepReport.com. In 2010, Henington had 114 tackles and a team-high 11 sacks for the undefeated state champions. Henington had 118 tackles and 12 sacks during his senior season, at the conclusion of which, Henington was selected by the Denver Post as the top defensive player in the state. “I was just relentless, I always had my motor going and was always running around trying to make a play,” Henington told BuffStampede.com. “I felt like my technique got a lot better this year, too, but my relentlessness was the top thing that helped me win defensive player of the year.”

Henington is a three-sport athlete who also competes in wrestling and track and field. Henington’s father, Troy, played defensive tackle at Texas Tech, and his mother ran track for the Red Raiders. Henington’s grandfather played collegiately at New Mexico, and was drafted by the NFL.

PrepColorado.com was impressed with Henington. “Review of Henington’s game reveals a player that has the ability to move around the defense,” wrote Jeff Stroud. “This potential diversity could allow Henington to stay on the field in odd and even defensive fronts. In each spot, the successful high school wrestler uses leverage and good hand work to take on blockers and make tackles or create opportunities for tackles. The most intriguing aspect of Henington’s game is his ability to get a pass rush from across the defensive line. Although very strong against the run, Henington uses a good first step and a nonstop motor to get push and go after the passer.”

Henington had other offers from … several other schools, including Syracuse, Texas Tech and UCLA.  A number of other schools, including Colorado State, Utah, Indiana, Michigan, Syracuse, Northwestern, Notre Dame and Oregon all showed some form of early recruiting interest in Henington, but Henington committed early, and has stuck with his commitment. Henington took his official visit to Boulder on December 9th. “I don’t see really any reason to take other visits,” Henington told BuffStampede.com after he returned home from his official visit to CU. “Anybody in the state who is not going to CU is crazy in my opinion.”

In his own words …  ”I’ve always wanted to go to CU,” Henington told the Denver Post when he committed. “My dad’s had a CU hat on me since I was five.” Henington was offered a scholarship before the start of spring practice, and had the opportunity to meet with coaches and watch practice. “I really liked what I saw,” said Henington. “I talked with (defensive line) coach (Mike) Tuiasosopo and (defensive coordinator Greg) Brown, and head coach (Jon) Embree, and they’re all great guys, and it seems like it’s going to be a great program.

“I talked to my parents and I knew it was the right move,” said Henington. “My dad and I have always been CU fans. I talked with my Mullen coaches. CU is a great school, and I decided to commit early and save myself a spot.”

Henington is projected to play on the interior of the defensive line, and that is not a problem for the third generation Division 1 football player. “Coach (Mike Tuiasosopo) said I’ll be an inside guy, and that’s where I feel most comfortable,” Henington told BuffStampede.com last spring. “I’m a little to big to be a defensive end, and I feel more comfortable taking up space inside … When I went up for (spring practices), I could see coach Tua is a great coach and a great guy. He’s not out there cussing at you. He tells you what you need to know, and also gets you fired up. I’m excited to play for him.”

VINCENT HOBBS – TE

Just the facts … Committed January 29th … Hobbs is a tight end prospect from Mesquite, Texas. Hobbs is 6’3″, 230-pounds, and runs 4.65 in the 40. Rivals bio Scout bio 

What others had to say about Hobbs … Hobbs is considered to be a three-star prospect by both Rivals and Scout. Rivals rates Hobbs as the No. 31 tight end prospect in the nation, and the No. 79 player overall out of the state of Texas this year. Scout considers Hobbs to be the No. 61 tight end nationally. For the 4-7 Horn Jaguars, Hobbs had 45 catches for 583 yards and two touchdowns. “So many colleges recruit our school and recruit our area so it is hard to get overlooked here, but I think it is fair to say Vincent has been under-recruited,” Rodney Webb, Hobbs’ high school coach, told BuffStampede.com. “Vincent is the best player I have ever coached. … I have four other kids right now playing receiver at FBS programs and Vincent has the best hands of any of those guys.”

Hobbs had other offers from … a half dozen other schools, including Colorado State. What kept Hobbs from pulling the trigger and becoming a Buff was Texas dangling the possibility of a scholarship in front of the Texas native. In addition to Colorado State and Memphis, Hobbs took an official visit to Texas, but did not come away with an offer. After Hobbs took his official visit to Colorado on January 27th, he was ready to become a Buff.

JEROMY IRWIN – OL

Just the facts … Committed August 28th … Irwin plays guard in high school, but projects as an offensive tackle. Irwin is from Cypress, Texas, and is 6’5″, 290-pounds. For a big man, Irwin moves fairly well, running a 5.0 in the 40. Rivals bio Scout bio  ESPN bio

What others say about Irwin … Irwin is considered by both Rivals and Scout to be a three-star prospect. He is rated by Scout to be the No. 89 offensive tackle in the nation. Irwin was recognized by Tom Lemming as being one of the top 25 defensive tackles in the state of Texas.

Irwin had other offers from … at least ten schools, including Boise State, Louisville, Wake Forest, and Rice. Other schools reported to have interest in the twins include Arkansas, LSU, and TCU. As the Irwins wanted to be a package deal, the number of offers may have been more limited than they would have otherwise. This fall, Oregon offered Irwin, but the brothers would have none of it. “Jeromy actually got a new offer from Oregon but he is not considering it. We’re true to our word,”Sean told BuffStampede.com in November. “It is really bad for your reputation if you commit to something and don’t follow through. When we committed to Colorado, we decided that was the place for us, even if other schools decided to offer. Of course some big schools offer after the season starts, but Jeromy and I decided we would pick Colorado over any other schools that might offer.”

In his own words … “I would definitely say that I would take education over a good football program. Education gets you further in life,” Jeromy Irwin told InsideTheUtes.com. “I’m just looking for a school that has a good educational program. If the football team is good on top of that, it’s just a bonus.” Jeromy would also like a school that runs the ball, which he feels feeds his biggest strength. “The run game is my strength. I really like to get out and push people backwards.”

As for Jeromy’s style of play? “They like his athleticism and coordination,” Sean told BuffStampede.com about his brother. “They like how he can keep his feet when he pulls. You see a lot of linemen get tripped up and go down, but Jeromy can catch himself and keeps his feet and finishes the play. He’s athletic and really a big guy without any fat on his body.”

SEAN IRWIN – TE

Just the facts … Committed August 28th … Irwin is a tight end prospect from Cypress, Texas. Irwin is 6’4″, 220-pounds, and has a 4.85 recorded time in the 40 (Sean claims he can run a 4.7). Rivals bio Scout bio ESPN bio

 What others say about Irwin … Irwin is considered by both Rivals and Scout to be a three-star prospect. He is rated by Scout to be the No. 39 tight end in the nation.

In the Fox Sports Southwest 7-on-7 state championships this past summer, Sean Irwin was rated as the “top weapon” in the competition. However, Sean fractured his fibula during two-a-days in August, and was out for nine weeks. According to Tom Lemming: “He shows good hands, is a solid blocker, has a great frame, should weigh 250 in college, and is athletic enough to remain at the position. He does a good job of catching the ball away from his body and turns up field quickly. A proven run blocker, he will stay with his blocks until the whistle.” Irwin finally got back onto the field in November for the Bobcats, who went 12-1 this past season. “It had been a while since I played in the game, it had been a while since I hit people that hard, so it felt good,” said Irwin last November. “I was happy to be on the field participating.”

Irwin had other offers from … at least ten schools, including Boise State, Louisville, Wake Forest, and Rice. Other schools reported to have interest in the twins include Arkansas, LSU, and TCU. As the Irwins wanted to be a package deal, the number of offers may have been more limited than they would have otherwise. The Irwins were recruited by Kanavis McGhee, who used his Houston roots to secure  the Houston area natives. “I wouldn’t have committed if I wasn’t committed,” Sean said after the brothers took their official visit in September. “I just don’t think you are much of a man if you commit to something and then back off and go somewhere else. My mom told me once I commit to something, I need to do it and finish it.”

In his own words … “They have a great coaching staff,” Sean told BuffStampede.com in July. “We like the coaches and everything we’ve heard so far has a good feel to it and sounds interesting … Coach McGhee says they like the way we play. We just go out there and get the job done. We don’t lead by doing a lot of talking. We just do what we have to do for the team on the field. We’re both physical players, and they like that about us.”

Another reason Colorado likes the Irwin brothers is they’re already well schooled in a pro-style offense similar to what Colorado is playing now under new head coach Jon Embree, a former Washington Redskins assistant. “At Cy-Fair, we run out of an I-formation 80 percent of the time,” Sean said. “We don’t play any spread offense. We run a tailback, a fullback and run the tight ends tight. We run power traps and counters and smash it down their throats. We definitely prefer playing in a pro-style offense.”

As a tight end, Sean says McGhee likes him for his versatility. He’s phyiscal enough to line up next to the tackle and quick enough to get wide on pass patterns. “They like how I can get down on the ground and hit someone, but I can still go out and get a pass,” he said. “They like my speed and size. I might not be as tall as some tight ends but I play with good leverage when I am blocking and I can also get out catch the ball effectively when given the chance. I run a 4.7 so I have good speed for my size,” he explained. “Colorado said that they think I will fit in well because some of their tight ends are one-dimensional. I can kind of be a dual-threat guy for them. I can do both.”

KISIMA JAGNE – DE

Just the facts … Committed December 8th … Jagne is a defensive end prospect from Chandler, Arizona. Jagne is 6’5″, 235-pounds, and reportedly runs an impressive 4.5 in the 40. Rivals bio Scout bio ESPN bio

What others say about Jagne … Jagne is rated as a three-star player by both Rivals and Scout. Rivals has Jagne pegged as the No. 28 strong defensive end in the nation, and the No. 9 player overall out of the state of Arizona this fall. Scout considers Jagne the 54th-best defensive end prospect in the nation. Scout.com rated Jagne as the top defensive lineman prospect in the state of Arizona this fall. Jagne was also recruited as a basketball player, but will concentrate on football at Colorado.

An analyst for Scout had this to say about Jagne: As good looking a prospect from a physical standpoint as you will find. Big, strong and has the length coveted by every college coach. Has the ability to be an every down player at the next level as he is just as stout against the run as he is an efficient pass rusher. Long arms help him get to the quarterback. Can be a dominant force when he wants to, which is his knock, as he does take some plays off.

Tom Lemming had this to say about Jagne: He shows the athletic ability, length, long arms, and burst to become an effective pass rusher in college. Needs to be more consistent but the athletic ability is certainly there.

Jagne had other offers from … A number of other BCS conference schools, including both Arizona schools and both Washington schools from the Pac-12. Jagne also had offers from Michigan State, Purdue, and Oklahoma State. Jagne took an official visit to Arizona State when the Sun Devils crushed the Buffs in Tempe, but took his official visit to Boulder a few weeks later when the Buffs defeated Arizona. Jagne commited to the Buffs on December 8th during an in-home visit with Colorado defensive ends coach Kanavis McGhee.

In his own words … “I can play when I get there,” Jagne told Rivals.com. “They only have two defensive ends there now and just all the coaches (really stood out). I am very fast. I can use my speed or my bull rush to get around offensive linemen”.

SAMSON KAFOVALU – DT/DE

Just the facts … Committed December 16th … Kafovalu is a defensive end prospect from Riverside, California. Kafovalu is 6’3″, 253-pounds. Rivals bio Scout bio ESPN bio

 What others say about Kafovalu … Kafovalu is considered to be a three-star prospect by both Scout and Rivals. Scout rates Kafovalu as the No. 55 defensive end in the nation.

Kafovalu has other offers from… a number of Pac-12 schools, including both Washington schools, Arizona, UCLA, and Utah, as well as Fresno State, Boise State and Nevada. Kafovalu took his official visit to Boulder in October for the Oregon game, then took official visits to Washington and Utah. When Kafovalu visited Boulder, he was impressed with the Buffs, despite the 45-2 drubbing by Oregon. “I love the school, I love the place,” Kafovalu told BuffaloSportsNews.net in October. “I love the football players. It was a great place.” While Kafovalu is listed by the recruiting services as a defensive end, he may move inside and play defensive tackle for Colorado. “If I play, it’s all good,” he said. “If I have to play O-line for Colorado, I’ll play O-line.” Kafovalu committed to Colorado just five days after his official visit to Utah, but, more significantly, the day after Colorado defensive line coach Mike Tuiasosopo made an in-home visit.

In his own words … “They want me at either defensive end or at the three technique, where I would play defensive tackle,” Kafovalu. “If that’s where they need me, then that’s where I will go.” Kafovalu discussed what set Colorado apart from some of his other options. “I believe in their coaches and the guys that are coming in. They are definitely in a rebuilding stage, but I believe I can go there and make a name for myself,” said Kafovalu. “It is a good opportunity for me and it will be a good opportunity to get to work with their coaching staff.”

ALEX KELLEY - C

Just the Facts … Committed October 4th, 2010 … Kelley is an offensive line prospect from Vista High school in Vista, California. He is 6’3″, and weighs 295 pounds. Kelley was a member of the Colorado recruiting Class of 2011, but broke his foot last June, and grayshirted. Kelley enrolled in January (he and Norgard are roommates), and he will still have five years to play four.  Rivals bio  Scout bio YouTube video highlights

What others say about Kelley … Alex Kelley was considered to be a three-star prospect by both Rivals and Scout. Kelley was listed as the 22nd-best center prospect in the nation by Scout.com, and the No. 2 center in the west. Kelley was a SuperPrep All-Far West team member, the 98th-best player in the region, and the 15th-best offensive lineman. Kelley was a two-time all-league player for the Vista offensive line, and is also an all-league wrestler. Kelley helped Vista to a 12-1 record and a CIF Southern Section Division 1 championship. In the title game, the Panthers gained 313 yards rushing. In his senior year, Kelley totaled 108 pancake blocks.

Kelley had other offers from … Boise State, Minnesota, San Jose State, Nevada, San Diego State and New Mexico State. Kelley also had interest from Iowa State, USC, Kansas and UCLA. Kelley took only one official visit, to Colorado for the Georgia game, and committed that weekend.

In his own words… “A hole snuck up on me …”, Alex Kelley told BuffStampede.com about how he broke his foot while running along the beach near his home in Vista, California, last June. “I heard it pop right away and I was hoping that it was a sprain but after about a day, it was getting super swollen and I went to the doctor because I realized it was pretty serious,” Kelley said. “The injury was frustrating but it was a freak accident. I wasn’t doing anything stupid. I was just running on the beach and it happened. Now I just have to come back stronger than I was before.”

By November, Kelley was fully healed. “My foot was pretty messed up and I wouldn’t have been able to do much and it would have been hard to get around Colorado,” Kelley told BuffStampede.com. “But my foot is completely healed now. I started running a month ago and I started lifting heavily. I am doing a bunch of weight on squat now. I am feeling great.”

Kelley took a Math course at MiraCosta College this fall. He also followed a workout plan provided by Colorado strength and conditioning coach Malcolm Blacken. “I pretty much just workout all day because I have nothing else to do,” Kelley said. “Grayshirting has been good. It gives me an extra year of growing and maturing. I think it has been a good thing. I am a lot stronger than I have ever been. I can lift a lot.”

GERRAD KOUGH – OL

Just the facts … Committed July 1st … Kough is an offensive line prospect from Pomona, California. Kough is 6’4″, 265-pounds. Rivals bio  Scout bio YouTube highlights ESPN bio

What others had to say about Kough… Kough is considered a two-star prospect by both Rivals and Scout. Kough plays tackle for Pomona, but is being recruited by Colorado to play guard, and is considered by Scout to be the No. 102 offensive guard prosect in the nation. 

Offensive coordinator and running backs coach Eric Bieniemy was responsible for Kough’s recruitment from the Buffaloes’ staff. Kough had also been in contact with head coach Jon Embree and offensive line coach Steve Marshall. Here is what an ESPN analyst had to say about Kough: “Kough is a tough run blocker who displays the upper body playing strength to dominate his present level of opponent. Has the size and athleticism for the offensive tackle position at the major level of competition. Will need to work on initial quickness and explosion as well as adding body mass to his frame. Playing out of a three point stance we detect some hip and ankle stiffness however it does not appear to affect his ability to play on his feet in space; comes off the ball aggressively but too high when establishing initial contact; does tend to narrow his base but is able to get movement and sustain due to his persistent leg drive. Flashes good pull around ability; we see the potential to set the edge and maintain leverage on “5″ technique defenders. With improved initial quickness and pad level we see the potential to consistently get a hat on active 1st and 2nd level defenders. Additional body mass along with the nasty finishing attitude this guy plays with, we see a lineman capable of making the necessary run blocks at the next level. Flashes nimble feet and along with his arm length and quick hands he should be an effective pass pro blocker. Shows the ability to quick set but must work on bend and balance; plays too high and gets caught up on his toes at times. Demonstrates good initial punch and placement, working to re-locate the hands inside the frame. Kough does not appear to be an immediate starter at the BCS level of play, rather a prospect in need of some time and perhaps a red shirt year to grow physically, improve his athleticism while polishing his technical skills.”

Kough had other offers from … only Army and Portland State. However, Kough was drawing interest from Arizona State, UCLA, Washington and Fresno State. “Since I committed (in July), it has just been Colorado that I have been talking to,” Kough told BuffStampede.com. “Colorado said they like me because I am a good run blocker and I have good feet. They want me to come in and compete at (offensive) guard.”

In his own words… “Colorado said they like me because I finish, I play through the whistle,” said Kough. As to his official visit in December, Kough told Scout.com. “It was real nice and real pretty out there. All the facilities were real nice and it’s just a real nice school and the best one I’ve been to.” Kough was hosted on his visit by Alex Lewis but also spent a lot of time with Jered Bell, his former teammate at Colony HS in Ontario.”I got to talk a lot with Jared,” said Kough. Kough also got to talk at length with offensive line coach Steve Marshall. “We had a position meeting with Coach Marshall,” said Kough. “They’re talking most likely guard or maybe center for me. There is a good chance I can play early.”

MARQUES MOSLEY – DB

Just the facts … Committed December 20th … Mosley is a defensive back / athlete / wide receiver prospect from Upland, California. He is a teammate of running back Donta Abron, who committed December 12th, as well as tight end Christian Powell, who committed January 31st. Mosley is 6’1″, 185-pounds, has reportedly run a 4.6 in the 40, as is projected to play cornerback for Colorado. Rivals bio  Scout bio ESPN bio

What others say about Mosley… Mosley is considered to be a three-star prospect by Rivals, but only a two-star prospect by Scout. ESPN gives Mosley three stars as a safety. Mosley averaged 17.2 yards on 19 rushing attempts, 22.4 yards on 12 receptions, 24.3 yards on 10 punt returns and 33.1 yards on eight kickoff returns during his senior season. He also recorded 64 tackles, four pass break ups and one interception on defense.

An evaluation on Mosley, from ESPN, written in November: “Mosley displays the aggressive run stopping ability we look for when evaluating defensive backs. Has the size and athleticism for the safety position at the major level of competition. His frame appears capable of handling additional bulk over time. This guy is a tough customer willing to wrap tackle and punish when the opportunity exists; is effective covering kickoffs; does a good job avoiding blockers but will take them on to maintain coverage lanes; is also effective blocking downfield on punt returns. We do detect some hip tightness when playing tight man coverage however we see the playing speed needed to line up tight, turn and run with receivers releasing off the line; flashes awareness with a feel for receivers in his area; must improve his ability to break up quicker on underneath throws. This prospect does a good job playing off blocks whether it be the screen pass or outside run; sheds blockers quickly while demonstrating the ability to make the open field tackle with very little yardage after contact. Is aggressive filling the alley showing the willingness to stick his nose and stop runs on the opponent’s side of the line of scrimmage; does a great job in long pursuit with some touchdown saving tackles. Mosley is presently flying under the radar as a BCS prospect. However his size, athleticism and toughness warrant another look see as the season concludes.”

“Marques has game changing ability,” Upland assistant coach, Mike Esquivel told BuffStampede.com. “When the game was on the line, Marques is the guy we were going to. He never came off the field for us. Colorado recruited him as a cornerback but I could see them using him on special teams as well. He is one heck of a kickoff returner and punt returner. Marques has breakaway speed and on defense, he is a hitter.”

Mosley had other offers from … Nebraska, Oregon State, Michigan State, and Army, so, for a two-star player, Mosley was attracting some attention from national programs. That Army was after Mosley is likely a good sign that he would not be an academic risk. Mosley took an official visit to Nebraska in November, and was in Boulder for the weekend of December 10th.

CLAY NORGARD – FB

Just the facts … Committed February 17th … Norgard is a defensive tackle who will be moved to fullback in college. Norgard is from Mountain Vista high in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. Norgard is 6’2″, 245-pounds, runs a 4.54 in the 40, and carries a 3.3 GPA. Norgard was an early enrollee for the Class of 2012, with his commitment counting towards the Class of 2011. Norgard is already taking classes at CU, and is eligible to participate in spring practices. Rivals bio Scout bio 2010 YouTube highlight video ESPN bio

 What others say about Norgard … Norgard is considered to be a three-star prospect by both Rivals and Scout, by Rivals as a fullback, and by Scout as a defensive end. Rivals rated Norgard as the No. 4 fullback prospect in the nation, and the No. 7 overall prospect out of the state of Colorado in 2011.

Norgard had other offers from … A number of schools. Despite committing to Colorado just a few weeks after Signing Day, 2011, other schools continued to pursue Norgard. Arizona, Kansas State, Syracuse, Colorado State, Air Force and Wyoming were amongst the schools who remained in touch with Norgard. Had he not committed so early, the number of offers would surely have increased. After his junior year, Norgard indicated that he felt his recruitment might take all summer. “My dad keeps telling me,” Norgard said in December, 2011, ” ‘As soon as you find the right school, you’ll know’ “. Apparently, Norgard found the right school after meeting with the new Colorado coaching staff. “I was thinking about playing it out, but I hadn’t felt the connection with any other school, any other coaching staff, like I have with CU,” said Norgard. “I didn’t get excited about playing football for any other school except for CU.”

In his own words… “I just love to play the game,” Norgard told BuffaloSportsNews.com. “I played fullback in high school some. I know how to block and I think my speed from linebacker will carry over.” Norgard indicated that is looking forward to helping the Buffs right away. He added that he’s not discouraged by the Buffs’ 3-10 season. “I thought they handled it very well,” he said. “It’s tough to come in (as a new coaching staff) and play like that right off the bat, but I thought the coaches did a very good job this season.” As to his new position, “I am excited about the opportunity to play fullback. It will give me a chance to get on the field since the depth chart is really thin there,” Norgard told BuffStampede.com. “Even though I haven’t played fullback before, I feel like my skills will fit me well there. I think I will be a good blocker.”

Norgard’s family connection to CU has been well-documented. Both of his parents graduated from CU. His dad Erik Norgard was an all-conference offensive lineman for the Buffs before an 11-year career in the NFL. The younger Norgard grew up cheering for his parents’ alma mater. “I have no idea what it will feel like when I put on a Colorado helmet for the first time this spring,” he said. “It seems almost too good to be true right now.”

DAVIEN PAYNE – RB

Just the facts … Committed July 9th, then really committed August 9th … Payne is a running back prospect from Perrius, California. Payne is 6’0″, 212-pounds. Payne reportedly runs a 4.6 in the 40. Rivals bio Scout bio YouTube highlights ESPN bio

What others had to say about Payne … Payne is considered to be a three-star prospect by both Rivals and Scout. Payne is seen by Rivals to be the 46th-best running back in the nation; while Scout rates Payne to be the 57th-best running back in the nation.

For the 12-1 Citrus Hill Hawks (playing in a lower division), Payne had 171 carries for 1,559 yards and 28 touchdowns. Payne also had eight catches for 182 yards. “Davien is a big, strong, downhill runner with real good agility and real good vision,” said Citrus Hill head coach Eric Zomalt. “He can hit it inside and outside. We knew early on when he joined our team that physically he can do some things.” Here’s what a Rivals scout had to say about Payne: “Payne is cut from a slightly larger mold than former Citrus Hill-great, Deontae Cooper (now a sophomore at Washington), but the otherworldly production is still there. As a junior, Payne rushed 318 times for 1,928 yards and 27 touchdowns. Some will say that Payne played against a lower level of competition, and while that’s true, there’s no doubting the talent this 5-foot-11, 215-pound back possesses. UCLA, Arizona State and Washington have offered, and USC is interested”.

Payne had other offers from … Nebraska, as well as from at least five other Pac-12 schools, including both Washington schools, UCLA, and both Arizona schools. Throughout much of the summer, though, the leader for Payne’s services, was Boise State. After his commitment to Colorado this past summer, however, Payne has been a solid commit. Payne reportedly fell in love with the “family atmosphere” at Colorado during an unofficial visit to Boulder last summer. “Colorado is just where I want to be. They were real with me from the beginning,” said the soft-spoken Payne. “I will fit in great there.”

In his own words … “I started playing football in 8th grade was told I would never be good enough, make varsity, earn a scholarship, or anything like that” said Payne. “Well, now look at my offers and those that said that to me don’t have any. I’m obviously doing something right.”

CHRISTIAN POWELL – FB

Just the facts … Committed January 31st … Powell is a fullback prospect from Upland, California. Powell is 5’11″, 250-pounds. Upland teammates Donta Abron, a running back who committed December 12th, and Marques Mosley, a cornerback prospect who committed December 20th,  also plan to sign with CU. Rivals bio Scout bio

What others had to say about Powell … Powell is considered to be a three-star prospect by both Rivals and Scout. Rivals rates Powell as an “athlete”, without a position, considering him to be the No. 55 athlete nationwide. Scout has Powell listed as a fullback prospect, the No. 3 fullback prospect in the nation (Rivals rates CU signee Clay Norgard, who has already enrolled at CU, to be the No. 4 fullback in the nation). As a fullback for Upland high this past fall, Powell rushed for 400 yards and seven touchdowns while averaging 10.0 yards per carry with a long run of 53 yards. As a receiver, he had seven receptions for 116 yards while averaging 16.7 yards per catch with a long of 29 yards. Defensively, Powell was a force, racking up 90 tackles, 15 sacks and two pass deflections. Despite his defensive prowess, Powell is being recruited to play fullback at Colorado.

Powell had other offers from … at least a half dozen other BCS schools, including Nebraska, Texas A&M, and Washington. Powell took official visits to Nebraska, Texas A&M and Washington in November, and then took official visits to Colorado and UCLA in January. On January 13th, Powell committed to UCLA, but then changed his mind on the eve of Signing Day.The fact that two of his teammates were already committed to Colorado helped the Buffs’ land Powell as well.  

KORY RASMUSSEN – DT/DE

Just the facts … Committed December 19th … Rasmussen is a defensive tackle prospect from Honolulu, Hawai’i. Rasmussen is 6’3″, 260-pounds. Rivals bio Scout bio ESPN bio

What others say about Rasmussen …  Rasmussen is considered to be a three-star prospect by Scout, but only a two-star prospect by Rivals. Scout rates Rasmussen as the No. 81 defensive tackle in the nation, while Rivals does at least rank Rasmussen in the top ten of prospects from Hawai’i this fall.

Rasmussen had other offers from… a number of Pac-12 schools, including Arizona, Utah, Cal and Washington. Rasmussen also had an offer from his hometown Hawai’i Warriors. Rasmussen took his official visit to Boulder in November for the Arizona game, and did not take any other official visits. “Colorado was good,” Rasmussen told BuffaloSportsNews.net in November. “They won the game so that makes it better. It was good to talk to the local boys they have there, some guys I played against in high school. I had a good time … I think my favorite part was going to Folsom Field,” said Rasmussen. “Watching how the coaches were during the game and seeing the players play.”

Rasmussend projects as a defensive tackle, but he has some weight (and muscle) to put on before he puts on the pads in Folsom Field. “Most schools see me on the inside at defensive tackle,” said Rasmussen. “A lot of it depends on how much weight I can put on this off-season.”

In his own words … “When I visited Colorado, Juda Parker was my player host. I played against him, K.T. Tummalo and Paulay Asiata. It was like a reunion with us,” Rasmussen told BuffStampede.com. “My whole family went out on my official (visit to Colorado) and we all felt comfortable with the town, the atmosphere and everything that was going on up there and what the coaches are trying to do. I wanted to be a part of that.”

Rasmussen said he currently stands 6-foot-3.5, 260-pounds. It is yet to be determined if he will play defensive end or defensive tackle when he arrives in Boulder. “It all depends on where I am at weight wise and strength wise when I graduate and fly up there,” Rasmussen said. “I am going to try to get bigger, faster and stronger before I get up there.”

AUSTIN RAY – TE

Just the facts … Committed November 22nd … Ray is a tight end prospect from Columbia, Missouri. Ray is 6’6″, 234-pounds, and reportedly runs a 4.6 in the 40. Rivals bio  Scout bio ESPN bio

What others say about Ray… Ray is rated as a three-star player by both Rivals and Scout. On the Scout board, Ray is listed as the No. 34 tight end prospect in the nation. Ray had 36 catches for 530 yards and ten touchdowns as an upperclassman. Ray is considered the 15th-best player out of the state of Missouri this season.

According to Tom Lemming: He caught a lot of coaches’ attention with his athletic build and aggressive style of play. As physical as they come when run blocking, he plays in a run oriented offense and shows good hands and the ability to run with the ball after the catch.

Here’s what ESPN had to say about Ray:  Ray displays the tools that could allow him to develop into a productive and well-rounded college tight end. He possesses good overall size for the position. He looks best suited as an in-line tight end in a pro-style type attack. He is an active part of his high schools passing attack and can contribute as a receiver. He displays good hands and the ability to extend and catch the ball before it gets into his frame. He displays good concentration to be able to catch the ball in traffic and also displays good body control to be able to adjust and catch balls that are off target. He is not a field stretching vertical threat, but does run well for his size. He may struggle to separate from more athletic defenders in man coverage, but does run good routes for a tight end at this stage. He is not very elusive after the catch, but does have good size and will fight for yards and can break arm tackles. He is a functional blocker who could be better. He gets hands on and moves his feet. Does a solid job of climbing up to second level. He is more a positional blocker and with his size you would like to see him be a little more dominant as an in-line run blocker. He needs to deliver more of an initial pop and roll his hips and generate better power from his lower body. Ray has some areas to improve on, but can be a good and well-rounded tight end.

Ray had other offers from … Most notably, Mississippi. Ray committed to Ole Miss back in July, but de-committed when Rebel coach Houston Nutt was not retained. Ray reportedly had offers from at least six other BCS conference schools, including Nebraska, Stanford, Louisville, Kansas State, Iowa, and Kentucky. Ray took an official visit to Boulder on November 11th-12th for the Buffs’ home game against Arizona.

In his own words… “Even though he just let Ole Miss know (Monday) that he was de-committing he had been seriously considering Colorado since his official visit there there the weekend before last (for the Arizona game). He just felt like going ahead and committing,” Randy Ray, Austin’s father, told Mississippi Scout. ”He cited Head Coach Embree being a former tight end in college and the NFL as being a big influence in his decision along with the possibility of early playing time. Austin went ahead and committed to Coach Embree right after lunch when they spoke on the phone. He wants to be a part of a rebuilding process at Colorado and feels like they are about to be very competitive in the Pac-2 within the next couple of years. I think being a part of the rebuilding process is exciting to him as it was going to be at Ole Miss.”

“Knowing that I could get significant playing time next year as a true freshman is great. It seems like a great opportunity,” Ray told BuffStampede.com when he committed. “They run a pro-style offense and their offensive coordinator (Eric Bieniemy) came from the Vikings so they are running NFL stuff and they are big on using tight ends, so it is nice. Colorado’s coaches were excited when I committed. They were happy that I am going to come down and play for them because they were really hoping to see me as a Buff.”

JUSTIN SOLIS – DT

Just the facts … Committed July 13th … Solis is a defensive tackle prospect from Westlake Village, California. Solis is 6’3, 287-pounds, and runs a 4.9 in the 40. Rivals bio  Scout bio YouTubehighlights ESPN bio

What others had to say about Solis … Solis is considered to be a three-star prospect by both Rivals and Scout. Rivals ranks Solis as 45th-best defensive tackle prospect in the nation, and the 97th-best overall prospect out of the state of California. Scout lists Solis as the No. 36 defensive tackle in the country.

This past fall, for a 14-1 Westlake Village team which was ranked as the No. 17 team in the nation, Solis had 102 tackles (61 solo) and seven sacks. Solis was named the Ventura County Defensive Lineman of the Year and the Marmonte League Defensive Lineman of the Year in 2010. He was also an all-state and all-CIF selection. In his junior year, Solis had 99 tackles, including over 20 tackles for loss and ten sacks.

A Scout.com player evaluation had this to say about the Buffs’ new defensive tackle: “Solis has a quick first step and does a good job taking on numerous blockers to enable the linebackers to get into the backfield. Very good in stopping the run.” Under Strengths, the scout listed intensity and effort, quickness off the ball, and overall strength. As a weakness, the scout listed “techniques and moves”. Solis seems to agree with the last assessment. “I want to improve on my agility and speed,” Solis told BuffaloSportsNews.com back in March. “That’s what I want to work on most because we’re changing up our defense this year. Last year it was more like, hold the line and control the gaps. This year we’re doing more, play the run on the way to the quarterback. So I want to get in better shape and get a little bit faster and quicker.”

Solis had other offers from … half of the Pac-12, including UCLA, Arizona, Utah and Washington. Solis also had offers from Boise State, Georgia Tech, Iowa State and Nevada. After his official visit to CU in September, Solis did not take any other official visits.

In his own words… “When I first started playing football, I was just having fun. I didn’t know I was going to take it this far,” Solis told BuffStampede.com when he committed this past summer. “In the last couple years, I started to realize that it is going to give me an opportunity to get a free college education and be successful in my future. It has been a blessing.” Solis committed in July, and took his official visit with teammate John Stuart, who later also committed to Colorado. “The fans were loud and it was a really good game,” Solis told BuffStampede.com of the Cal game in September. “I was already solid in my commitment but the trip just solidified it. Boulder is the place I want to be.”

JOHN STUART – DE

Just the facts … Committed December 5th … Stuart is a defensive end prospect from Westlake Village, California. Stuart is 6’4″, 230-pounds, and reportedly runs a 4.7 in the 40. Stuart is the teammate of fellow CU commit Justin Solis. Rivals bio  Scout bio ESPN bio

What others say about Stuart … Stuart is rated as a three-star player by Scout, but only a two-star prospect by Rivals. Scout has Stuart as its 97nd-best defensive end prospect in the nation. For the 14-1 Westlake Warriors, who were ranked as the No. 17 team in the nation, Stuart had 46 tackles (25 solo) and seven sacks. Stuart also had four receptions on the season, with three of those four catches going for touchdowns.

Stuart had other offers from … both Arizona schools and Washington State from the Pac-12. Stuart also had a number of offers from west coast mid-major schools like Fresno State, Nevada, New Mexico State and San Jose State. Stuart took an official visit to Colorado in September, and to Washington State in November.

In his own words… “After that win against Utah, all of Colorado’s juniors and their underclassmen were getting together and they are motivated to do well next year”, Stuart told BuffStampede.com as to why he committed to Colorado. “And their coaching staff is one of the best. I just feel like I could fit in there really well.

“I feel Justin and I can both go there with a winning mentality and help them build a winning tradition. We know how to win and we just want to spread that around Colorado so our program will be successful.”

GERALD THOMAS – WR / KR

Just the facts … Committed July 5th … Thomas is a wide receiver prospect from The Colony, Texas. Thomas is 5’10″, 175-pounds. Thomas reportedly runs a 4.37 in the 40. Rivals bio Scout bio ESPN bio

What others had to say about Thomas … Thomas is considered to be a three-star prospect by both Rivals and Scout. Thomas is rated by Scout to be the No. 148 wide receiver prospect in the nation. 

For a 4-6 team this past fall, Thomas had 30 catches for 735 yards and seven touchdowns. As a junior, he caught 71 passes for 1,185 yards and 12 touchdowns. “I think my season could have gone a lot better,” Thomas acknowledged. “I got triple teamed and we didn’t pass the ball as much as we did my junior year.” Thomas’ 4.37 in the 40 was timed at TCU’s camp this past summer. After the camp in Dallas, this is what PurpleMenace.com had to say about Thomas: “Gerald Thomas displayed plenty of speed … He’s a Jeremy Kerley starter kit (Kerley was a star receiver for TCU in 2010, collecting 56 passes for 575 yards and ten touchdowns. Kerley also had 388 yards on punt returns and 527 yards returning kickoffs), not as bulky but a little taller and silky smooth in his route running. Prior to the start of camp, Thomas told Purplemenace.com that the coaches wanted to see how fast he could run. Thomas didn’t disappoint as he sprinted his way to a 4.37, good for third best on the day. He also had a 35-inch vertical, also one of the top numbers on the day. But, let’s get back to his route running. Thomas was the most impressive of the group. He did have a few drops, but there’s no denying that he has plenty of talent and could make a splash at TCU at the slot, ala Kerley. There’s a good reason eleven programs have offered The Colony receiver.”

Thomas had other offers from … at least ten other schools. From the Pac-12, there were offers from both of the Arizona schools. From the Big 12 came offers from Iowa State and Kansas. Iowa and Minnesota from the Big Ten had also extended offers.

In his own words … “My speed and quickness help separate me from the average high school receiver, and my competitiveness also separates me. I want to win every game,” Thomas told BuffStampede.com. “I want to go undefeated. I am great in one-on-one matchups and my route running has gotten a lot better since my sophomore year. “I used to play running back and I think that helps me as a receiver, too. After I catch the ball, I turn into a running back. I can make people miss in the open field. Every time I have the ball in my hands, I have a chance to score.”

Of his official visit in December, Thomas told BuffStampede.com, “Everyone I talked to said I was going to love it out here and I took them at their word but it was nice to see how beautiful Boulder and the University is with my own two eyes. I wish I was still up there in Boulder right now. Their coaches are real cool and laid back. They are good people, so are the players. I just loved the atmosphere and tried to soak it all up”.

One plus: Thomas won’t have to get used to a new set of school colors … “I was black and gold in middle school, black and gold in high school, and now in college,” Thomas told Scout.com. “Now I have to go on and play for the Saints, so I can keep it going!” Few Buff fans would be upset if, five years from now, Thomas is suiting up for the New Orleans Saints …

JEFFREY THOMAS – WR

Just the facts … Committed June 18th … Thomas is a wide receiver prospect from Duncanville, Texas. Thomas is 6’3″, 180-pounds, and runs a 4.66 in the 40. Rivals bio Scout bio YouTube video highlights ESPN bio

What others say about Thomas … Thomas is considered by both Rivals and Scout to be a three-star prospect. Scout rates Thomas to be the 117th-best wide receiver in the nation. For a 7-4 Duncanville high team this past fall, Thomas led the team with 59 receptions for 899 yards and 12 touchdowns. One report from Scout.com had this to say about Thomas: “Thomas is a big receiver with long arms who uses his body effectively to shield defenders from the ball. He will work the middle of the field and will make the sound catches. Because of the style of his game he will thrive once he gets in to college and starts to add on weight with maturity and conditioning.”

An Orangebloods.com’s scout had to say about Thomas: “I don’t know why things haven’t completely come together for the 6-3, 180-pound Thomas because he’s a guy that at his best has some absolute star upside as a receiver. Obviously, the kid has size, but he’s a guy that has flashed really good ball skills and big-play upside in his time at Duncanville. What you like about Thomas a big-play receiver is that he can stretch the field and go up to get the football. But he also has a little shake and bake after the catch that makes him a difficult player to defend in space. The knock on Thomas is that he’s not a burner and it’s fair to say that he’ll have average speed as a college receiver … At this point, he’s a work in progress, but there’s a lot there to work with. When we talk about three star prospects with four-star upside, he’s a perfect example.”

Thomas had other offers from … a number of schools, but only one other from a BCS conference school, Iowa State. Thomas did also hold offers from schools like Boise State, Memphis, Tulsa, Wyoming and North Texas. Thomas had attracted attention from Georgia, Cal, Kansas, Oklahoma State, Baylor, and Texas A&M.

In his own words … Colorado used wide receivers coach Bobby Kennedy’s seven years of service as the recruiting coordinator at Texas to its advantage. “I met (coach Kennedy) at a Texas camp and when he changed schools he kept up with me,” Thomas told BuffStampede.com. “He came out to spring ball (in May) and offered me on the spot. I was excited about that.”
Thomas said he’s intrigued by Colorado and the prospect of playing in the Pac-12. He also likes the idea of playing in a pro-style offense. ”I think my biggest strength is my ability to go up and make plays, I’d consider myself a physical receiver and I definitely like to use my size and strength to my advantage,”  Thomas told the OldCoach.com, who says he wants to improve his straight line speed and his route running this summer.

“Out of all the schools that I talked to and possibly could get an offer from, Colorado just had everything right to offer and I see no downside to it. Now was a better time than ever,” Thomas told BuffStampede.com. “When I committed, I talked to every coach on their staff and they all loved me and can’t wait to get me out there. They were excited.” Thomas grew up in the Richmond area of Northern California. He moved to the Lone Star State prior to seventh grade. “I have a lot of family still out there in California and they can come see me play in the Pac-12,” Thomas said. “I wanted to play in the Pac-12 my whole life. Knowing that I am going to play against USC and Oregon and all those schools, it is just great.”

JOSH TUPOU – DT

Just the facts … Committed December 11th – Tupou is a two-way lineman prospect from Buena Park, California. Tupou is 6’4″, 302-pounds, and is being recruited by Colorado to play defensive tackle. Rivals bio Scout bio video highlights 

What others say about Tupou … Tupou is rated as a three-star defensive tackle by both Scout and Rivals. Scout rates Tupou as the No. 70 defensive tackle in the nation. In playing both ways for an 8-3 Coyote squad, Tupou was credited with 56 tackles and 3.5 sacks. Tupou was named the Freeway League defensive MVP and his team’s lineman of the year as a senior.

According to Scout’s west coast recruiting analyst Brandon Huffman, Tupou is the region’s top “Prospect out of Nowhere”: “It’s been a long time since Buena Park (Calif.) produced a D-I prospect,” wrote Huffman. “In fact, before this season, Buena Park hadn’t had a player sign out of high school in the last decade. This year the Coyotes have three players with D-I offers and the best of that group is defensive tackle Josh Tupou, who didn’t have a single offer before mid-October.”

“He played at Orange High School and when he came over we didn’t have one snap on him,” said his former coach, Ollie Lynch (who coached with former Buff quarterback Mike Moschetti. “He passed the eyeball test but you don’t know until you get them in pads. He was just unbelievable. His intelligence level is one of a kind. Usually you get a bigger guy like that and they may not hustle. They rely on their strength. He doesn’t. He finishes plays. He goes full effort in practice and he plays with an attitude as well.”

Tupou had other offers from … only a handful of schools, including Hawai’i, Nevada, San Jose State and UNLV. Tupou did not have any known offers from any other BCS conference schools, but did have reported interest from Utah and Washington. Tupou had previously taken official visits to Nevada and San Jose State before settling on the Buffs. The reason given for Tupour receiving fewer offers is his transfer to Buena Park this past fall, with no film of him as a junior. It may prove fortunate that the Buffs may have gotten Tupou before other schools figured out his potential. “When Josh came in, he didn’t have any film whatsoever,” said Buena Vista head coach Anthony White. “He was off the radar so no schools knew about him. Our coaching staff worked hard to get his name out there, sending film every week. We had [Washington head] coach Steve Sarkisian on our campus (in December, the week Tupou committed to Colorado) to meet with Josh. They just found out about him, but Colorado has been on him for a while and that was a big factor.”

JOHN WALKER – DB

Just the facts … Committed January 12th … Walker is a defensive back prospect from Washington D.C. Walker is the cousin of fellow 2012 commit De’jon Wilson (see profile, below), as well as a former teammate of defensive back Sherrard Harrington, who committed to Colorado last year. Walker is 6’0″, 175-pounds. Rivals bio Scout bio  YouTube highlights

What others say about Walker … Walker is considered to be a three-star prospect by Rivals, but only has two stars from Scout. Scout rates Walker as the No. 182 cornerback in the nation. Walker played quarterback at Carroll High School in Maryland before transferring to H.D. Woodson for his senior season. He played primarily at safety this past last fall, but is expected to play cornerback at Colorado. Walker’s move from quarterback to defensive back may at least partially account for his lack of coverage by the recruiting services …

Walker had other offers from … Indiana, Kansas, and Northwestern – so somebody has heard of him. Walker is scheduled to take an official visit to Boulder next weekend, committing to CU sight unseen. Walker had an official visit to Kansas scheduled for this weekend, but decided to cancel the visit and become a Buff instead.

In his own words … “I just weighed out my options and talked to my coach, my family, my friends and my cousin De’Jon Wilson, who is already committed to Colorado, and out of all my offers, Colorado’s coaches were the best”, Walker told BuffStampede.com. “Since day one when they started recruiting me, they were straight forward with me.

“My position is also very needed there. They need corners. (Defensive coordinator and secondary) coach (Greg) Brown has been stressing that a lot. They need corners that can come right away and play. I feel like I can come right in and play with Colorado. Also the conference, the Pac-12, I am going to be going up against a lot of good talent. I feel like I can match the talent.

“There were other good schools recruiting me. Kansas, Northwestern, Indiana, Syracuse, Rutgers.”

PEYTON WILLIAMS – WR

Just the facts … Committed July 14th … Williams is a wide receiver prospect from Southlake, Texas. Williams is 6’1″, 185-pounds, and runs a 4.5 in the 40. Rivals bio Scout bio ESPN bio

What others had to say about Williams … Williams is considered to be a three-star prospect by Rivals, but only a two–star prospect by Scout.  As a senior, Williams, before being injured, had 81 catches for 1,064 yards and ten touchdowns. Williams’ Carroll Dragons went 16-0 and was ranked as the No. 14 team nationally (Williams was injured in the first quarter of the state semi-finals). Last May, Williams’ 4×400 relay team captured a state championship. “I had a low 48 in my split, which wasn’t my best, but we won with a time of 3:13,” Williams said.

Williams had other offers from … a diverse collection of schools, including Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Memphis, Tulsa, Wyoming, and North Texas. Other schools reportedly showing interest were Kansas, Texas Tech, Iowa and West Virgnia. Why Colorado? Thank CU wide receivers coach Bobby Kennedy. “I call Coach Kennedy every week,” Williams told BuffStampede.com back in April. “I love Coach Kennedy. He was at Texas, now he is there. Colorado seems like a really cool place.”

In his own words … “My personality is that I’m not satisfied with anything,” Williams told Patherlair.com. “I’m trying to work on everything. I’m not happy with anything yet.” As far as his game skills, Williams told BuffStampede.com: “I am not afraid to go across the middle and make plays and I am a good blocker. I like to think I have the whole package.”

Concerning his knee injury … “I had surgery (in early January) and it went really, really well,” Williams told BuffStampede.com. “The doctors were very pleased and very impressed with how it went. I started rehab that next week so I am already into that. It feels good. You just sit there for a while and you sulk and stuff but now I have the surgery over with, that is a big step, and now I have the rehab, standing up and walking and all those steps. Every day it is getting better.”

Some Colorado fans wondered if Williams might grayshirt and join the Buffs next spring. Williams says that has never been discussed. Not only does Williams not see himself as a grayshirt candidate, he is not even looking at a red-shirt season in 2012. “Well, I’m anticipating I’ll be full go (for fall), but, you know, they say about six months,” Williams told BuffaloSportsNews.net. “But I’m not like most people. I’m going to work a lot harder. So I’ll probably heal a lot faster I’m assuming.”

DE’JON WILSON - DE

Just the facts … Committed November 28th … Wilson is a defensive end prospect from Washington, D.C. Wilson is 6’3″, 240 pounds, and reportedly runs a 4.68 in the 40. Wilson is the teammate of fellow Woodson commits Kenneth Crawley and John Walker, as well as current Buff Sherrard Harrington. Rivals bio Scout bio  ESPN bio

What others say about Wilson … Wilson is rated as a three-star player by both Scout and Rivals. Scout has Wilson ranked as the 135th-best defensive end prospect in the nation. As a junior, Wilson set school records with 21 sacks and 33 tackles for a loss. He also scored four defensive touchdowns. Wilson added another 22 tackles for loss in his senior year amongst his 48 tackles.

According to Tom Lemming: “He’s a natural pass rusher coming off the edge with strength and purpose. He quickly disengages and shows outstanding closing speed. His high school film has him playing DE most of the time but will wind up playing OLB in college. Just has natural strength and good ball skills but the key to his game is his ability to get to the quarterback.”

A Scout.com evaluation of Wilson had this to say: “Wilson is a stout player who can be versatile in college. He could wind up at a number of spots. He looks like a current college middle backer, but could fill the hybrid DE/OLB role well in college. He runs well and gets after the ball.”

MDHigh.com had this to say about Wilson: “Wilson is a dominant pass rusher who is very potent at the point of attack. He has a strong bull-rush and was able to overwhelm his man on occasion with pure strength and will. Wilson also showed the ability to rip off blocks with violent hands to get to the corner. He’s deft enough to scrape inside and fast enough to loop around and fire in backside. Regardless of which angle he takes, Wilson has good closing speed to the quarterback. In run support, Wilson is a stout defender who stays square to the line of scrimmage and often gives a second and third effort. He’s good at filling lanes and finding ball-carriers in traffic. Wilson is also quick enough to scrape down the line and make plays out on the edge.”

Wilson had other offers from … at least ten other schools, including schools like Illinois, Michigan State, Rutgers and Pittsburgh. Woodson was a Kansas commit, but de-committed when head coach Turner Gill was fired.

In his own words … “I have a bond with (Buffs defensive ends) coach (Kanavis) McGhee,” Wilson told BuffStampede.com, after his commitment. “I talked with Coach McGhee about football and family issues. He has told me all about the school and what he plans on doing with me when I come up there … My best attributes are my strength and my quickness off the ball. Also, the fact that I don’t take plays off,” he said. “Coach McGhee sees that I have the potential to be a great player at the next level. He wants me to come in, get better and grow as a defensive end with the help of his coaching.” 

YURI WRIGHT – DB

Just the facts … Committed January 24th – Wright is a defensive back prospect from Ramsey, New Jersey. Wright is 6’2″, 180-pounds. Wright joins former Don Bosco teammate Tony Jones, a running back from the Class of 2011.  Rivals bio  Scout bio

What others say about Wright … Wright is considered by both Rivals and Scout to be a four-star prospect. Rivals rates Wright as the No. 7 cornerback in the nation, and the No. 85 overall prospect in the country. Scout considers Wright to be the No. 10 cornerback in the nation.

Wright had other offers from… the entire country. If you have been following the Wright saga, you know that he has been wooed by the likes of Michigan, Notre Dame, Rutgers, Georgia and Cal. Other schools, from Auburn to Wisconsin, and from Virginia Tech to Tennessee had interest in Wright. Before committing to Colorado, Wright took official visits to Notre Dame, Michigan, and Rutgers. Wright was expelled from Ramsey (N.J.) Don Bosco Prep last Thursday after a series of offensive tweets that were sexually graphic and racially insensitive were discovered on his Twitter account. The remarks forced the hand of the all-boys private school in Bergen County, one that has finished in the Top 10 nationally the past three years, including No. 2 this past season. “He’s a good kid and I think he has a bright college future and I wish him the best of luck,” Don Bosco head coach Greg Toal told nj.com. ”There is no question Don Bosco had to do what it had to do.” Wright will have to enroll in another high school to finish out his senior season. There has been some speculation that the change in schools might hurt his eligibility, but it also seems that all Wright needs is credits, as he had otherwise already qualified (SAT scores, core classes, etc.).

In his own words… Wright on Colorado head coach Jon Embree: “He’s a real laid back guy,” Wright told Scout.com. “He’s not one of these coaches who is just a sergeant. He’s a real cool guy. I was talking some of the guys on the team and he’s a real laid back guy. He thinks I’m a real good player and I would have the chance to come in and play early.” Wright told Rivals that his great relationship with the CU coaches, the people, and the school in general were what sold him on becoming a Buff.

ESPN story on the announcement … Sporting News story … Sports Illustrated report on “Shocker!” of an annoucement

As to his expulsion from high school for offensive tweets … After making what he admits to being a ‘huge mistake,’ defensive back Yuri Wright is looking forward to a fresh start when heads to Colorado next fall. “I made a huge mistake,” Wright told ESPN of the controversial tweets which got him expelled from Don Bosco high in Ramsey, New Jersey. “I definitely learned a valuable lesson, and I promise nothing like that will ever happen again. Everyone that knows me knows that’s not my true character or who I really am. I’m not going to sit here and try and make excuses for what I did. I’m just going to be a man and say I was wrong and I learned from it.”

Of all of the negative publicity (basically the national media took the position of “CU? Why would any decent player want to play for CU?”), Wright had an answer. “I basically fell in love with the school on my visit there,” Wright said. “I had an instant connection with coach [Jon] Embree and coach [Greg] Brown. The players were all great with me and I loved the area. The idea of leaving home appealed to me, so I could experience something new, not because I was running from anything.

“When all this happened, Coach Embree stuck with me and I’m very grateful that he gave me a second chance. He knows my character and what kind of person I am. I’m very excited about the opportunity to get out to Colorado and getting a fresh start. It was tough to get kicked out of school, but I’m going to finish up and then I can’t wait to get out to Colorado and start that new chapter of my life. Hopefully, people won’t judge me and will give me the same second chance Coach Embree did. I’m not going to blow it again.”

Editor’s Note: Thanks to the internet, many of us fans in the Buff Nation can tell you the number of stars a particular prospect has been given by the recruiting services, or the top five schools a certain high school senior is considering. What most of us don’t know is what it feels like to be a Division 1 recruit, or be the parent of a recruit. Below is the third in a series of interviews on CU recruiting. Up this week: Colorado 2012 recruit Clay Norgard, who has already enrolled at CU, and will be eligible to participate in spring practices.

Clay Norgard

Introduce us to Clay Norgard. Both Rivals and Scout have you listed as a three-star prospect, with Rivals showing you to be their No. 4 fullback in the nation, while Scout still has you listed at defensive end (No. 103). I understand that you played any number of positions at Mountain Vista, mostly on defense, moving from middle linebacker to outside linebacker to defensive end to defensive tackle. Is this correct?

I also played Nose Guard and Offensive Guard last season. Stats were not reported completely by my team, but I had 106 total tackles (64 solo/42 asst) 11 sacks and 9 forced fumbles this season. I led my team in all categories for my Junior and Senior seasons. I was named All-Conference as a Sophomore, Junior and Senior, 5A All-State and All-Colorado for my Junior and Senior seasons. I am one of only two players in the history of my school to be voted Team Captain for both Junior and Senior seasons, too.

You are listed at anywhere from 6’0″ to 6’2″, and from 230 to 245. What are the most accurate numbers?

6’1″ 242 lbs at my team physical.

Was a football scholarship always in your plans? When did you know that you had Division 1-A talent?

Yes, it had always been my dream to play college football at the highest level possible, but I knew it would be a long shot just based on statistics. Realistically, I knew only a small percentage of high school players go Division 1. I just tried to become the best player at my high school first, then the best player in my conference, the best in the 5A division and finally the best in Colorado. Being ranked on a national level and having national attention from colleges was really the icing on the cake. I feel like I was very fortunate to get a Division 1 scholarship and it’s not something I have ever taken lightly, but it’s definitely something I’ve been working on for most of my life.

How old were you when you first heard from a college recruiter? How were you contacted?

Started getting letters in the mail spring of my Sophomore year, coaches started coming by the school spring of my Junior year. There weren’t many other football players recruited out of my high school, so it wasn’t a regular stop for the big name schools where there would be an opportunity for coaches to see me working out or playing because they may have been there to see another older guy on my team.

Did you have a “dream school” when you were growing up? Your parents have a history with the University of Colorado. How did family connections play a role in your choice of schools?

I have family that has ties to University of Washington, but CU was my dream school. I grew up loving CU. The fact that my dad played there made it really comfortable to be around the program in the past. We lived in Boulder for two years in the NFL off-seasons and my dad did his workouts at Dal Ward, so my sister and I kind of grew up running around that weight room. CU and Dal Ward have always felt like home to me, so I would say that my family connection made CU the right choice because it just felt very familiar, like “home” I guess.

Colorado was entering a new era when you were being recruited, with the firing of Dan Hawkins, and the hiring of Jon Embree, last December. Were you recruited by Dan Hawkins’ staff? Which coaches were recruiting you? For what positions?

I was not recruited by any specific coaches on Dan Hawkins staff. I was invited to Boulder for football gameday visits but other than that it seemed like the previous staff had no specific interest in me as a player.

If Colorado was not looking like the best opportunity for you under the Dan Hawkins’ regime, where else did you look? Which other schools were recruiting you? Did you have a list of top five schools other than CU which you might have been interested in attending?

As a Junior, I was invited on unofficial visits to a lot of other schools: Notre Dame, Arizona, Washington, CSU, etc. There were lots of others that were in contact and visited me, too but I didn’t really have a top five. I was just trying to keep an open mind to whatever my path was going to be since I really didn’t see it being at CU at that time.

Tell us the story of your being recruited by the new CU coaches last January. (I understand that you went up for an unofficial visit right before Signing Day, 2011, and met with the coaches, and were given an offer soon thereafter – is that correct?)

I got an email from the football staff inviting me up for a basketball game where they were hosting senior recruits on official visits. I thought it would be just like other “gameday visits” during the football season, so I didn’t really expect anything. When my dad and I got there, Coach Embree met with us and Coach Bieniemy was there. They told us what their goals were for the team, what they planned to do in the coming years and what kind of players they needed to accomplish those goals. Then they told me I was one of their top in-state priorities. They offered me a scholarship and talked to me about possibly enrolling early. It felt like my dream of playing at CU might really come true, but it was so different from what I had experienced up there before that it didn’t seem real. We went to the basketball game and the whole time I was thinking “did that just happen?” Then a week or so later Coach Brookhart was at my school and I had the chance to talk with him, too. He reiterated that I was a recruiting priority for them and talked again about the “Early Enrollee” opportunity. After I talked with my school counselor and found out that I if I planned things out I really could graduate early, it seemed like I could easily make the decision much sooner than later. I committed when I did because CU had always been my dream and it seemed stupid to lead schools along just for the attention and the trips when I eknew I wanted to be at CU in the end anyway.

Which of the current CU coaches recruited you?

Coach Embree, Coach Bieniemy and Coach Brookhart

Had you met Jon Embree before January, 2011? What were your first impressions when you met with him in January?

Yes, I had met Coach Embree previously at Buffs4Life events my family attended over the years. I was a little intimidated because of his physical stature and maybe a little guarded because I just really wanted to impress him. He’s an easy-to-talk-to guy, and the more time I spent with him the more it felt like he was really a family friend. He treats me just like all my dad’s college buddies, gives me a hard time sometimes, but really cool to me too, so it feels very comfortable around him now.

You did not take an official visit to Colorado before committing, but I’m guessing you had been to Boulder many times before. Did you make it up for spring practices last March/April? What was that like? What did you do when you were in Boulder? Were you there with other recruits? What did the coaches and players talk to you about?

I went up for 4 or 5 spring practices and scrimmages, mostly just hanging out watching practice. I just kept thinking it almost seemed to good to be true. Other recruits that were there were mostly just the local guys that were also being recruited. Also saw some seniors who were committed or walking on from the class of 2011. Coaches and players I talked to would say how excited they were to have me there, lots of them also talked about turning things around for the program and how things were only going to be heading up for CU. Just lots of positive stuff from everybody, you could tell it was totally different from the way things had been when I had visited in the past. It seemed like there was a more direct plan of where things were going.

You did take your official visit to Colorado in December. What is an “official visit” like? When did you get to Boulder? How long were you there? What did you do when you were on your visit (activities, academic counselors, etc.)? Who was your host?

Arrived on Friday, stayed until Sunday morning. The whole weekend gave me a view of how it would be when I got up there for school. Meeting with academic staff, which is awesome. They have so much to offer the athletes at CU, really want everyone to succeed in school and do so much to help the athletes have a positive academic experience. Met with coach Bieniemy and went over film so he could show me how they would use me as a fullback. Ate a lot, hung out with players at night. Tyler McCulloch was my player host but we hung out with a lot of the other guys who were hosting players that weekend, too. Tyler Henington was up there that weekend and we already knew each other, so I hung out with him and his host (Brady Daigh) a lot. Some of the Texas guys and the Washington D.C. guys were there, so it was cool to meet my future teammates.

When you were on your official visit, did you get to spend much time with other recruits who were also in town for official visits? Did you do some recruiting of your own, trying to get some players to commit to CU? Did other players try and persuade you to look at any other schools?

Yes, spent time with all of the guys that were in town that weekend. For the ones who weren’t committed yet, I didn’t spend a lot of time talking to them about committing. Mostly just told them how great Boulder, CU and these coaches were, how the program was on its way up and how excited we were to be a part of that history. Everyone knew I was committed and enrolling early so no other recruits tried to sway me to consider other schools.

Did you take any other official visits? If so, how did your visits compare? (Better or worse facilities; nicer town; friendlier coaches; better players, etc.).

I didn’t take any other “Officials” but on my unofficial visits I can say I liked the campus at University of Arizona, I liked the location/campus at University of Washington and I liked the tradition at Notre Dame. But CU really just had the whole package; the school and campus, the town and environment, and I feel like this coaching staff is going to bring back the tradition that used to be there so it really offered the best of all the other schools that looked good to me. The coaches really sealed the deal for me, they’re guys I can’t wait to play for.

You were the first commit of the Jon Embree era. After your commitment, the Buffs struggled through to a 3-10 finish in 2011, with CU out-manned in several games. Did you ever waver in your commitment to Colorado? Did coaches from other schools continue to recruit you?

Nope. Not at all, even when they lost I knew it takes awhile for teams to build up. I knew the CU coaches had the right things in mind and so did the players. I didn’t want to be a part of team that had already done it, I wanted to be part of a team that was going to be doing it in the future. A team that’s on the way up, which I know CU is. Other schools continued to recruit me through last spring and summer, but once it was clear I was graduating and enrolling early that dropped off. I didn’t go to any camps other than CU’s, so I think it was obvious where my intentions were. I had no desire to lead any schools on just for the attention and was up front with all of them.

What did you know about your fellow CU recruits? What did you know about other player who were being recruited at your position?

I could tell they all had the same mentality and goals as me. I’ve known Tyler Henington for a long time, we’ve competed against each other in multiple sports since about 3rd grade. I knew that he was really competitive and wanted to win. He has the same mentality I do about loyalty and hard work. Every guy I met who was committed to CU, no matter where they were from (California, Texas, Washington D.C., etc), was that kind of guy. All the guys we met who were current players seemed to be that way too, so I think it’s obvious the coaches are looking for that while they build this team for the future. It feels great to be able to be on a team of guys that have the same goals and mentality I do.

Did you know any of the other in-state recruits (From all-star games, spring ball, etc.)? Did you try and recruit them to CU? What reasons did they give for wanting to go elsewhere?

I knew Tyler Henington and Shane Callahan the best. I knew Shane wanted to go to Auburn since he saw it as an “O-lineman university”. I think he liked CU but felt a better fit with Auburn and I had to just respect his opinion on that. Didn’t know the other in-state guys CU had offered very well, but in meeting them it maybe didn’t seem like it was a good fit on either side. Everybody brings something different, players and coaches. Seeing the guys that have committed to CU, it wouldn’t necessarily be the best fit for all the in-state guys. I know we have the right guys coming in this class, and the other in-state guys seem to have found places that work for them, so it’s all good.

You have “green-shirted”, and are already in school for the 2012 spring semester. How hard a decision was it for you to graduate from high school early? How do you believe that having an extra semester in school will help you? How much of an advantage will you have from getting top participate in spring practices?

Not hard at all, I was ready to leave high school, ready to move on and work toward higher goals. I think being here in the Spring helps most with getting acclimated to the faster pace of school and football. Getting used to college now so that once football is full swing I don’t have to worry about that adjustment. The other guys have said that was one of the hardest things, just figuring out college and college football at the same time. I think being here for Spring football will really help me in learning the details of a new position, so that’s good too.

You are switching to fullback at CU, after playing any number of positions in high school. What is your feel about the move?

It feels good. I feel more comfortable switching to that position than trying to gain a bunch of weight to be able to play Defensive Line at the Division 1 level. It’s a huge chance for me to be able to get on the field right away, too. That’s my goal, just to get on the field and contribute as soon as I can in whatever way I can to help the team.

Before becoming an All-Big Eight player and an 11-year NFL veteran, your father was a walk-on at CU. Yet you are heading to Boulder on scholarship from day one. Do you give your father a bad time about your being a scholarship player?

I try giving him a hard time, but it doesn’t work. When I say “I got a D1 scholarship” he counters with “well I played 11 years in the NFL, try to top that”. There is no winning in that argument yet. Only time will tell on that one, but he’s got me beat right now.

Any other memories from your recruitment which you would like to share?

Getting a scholarship is not easy. Everything you have to do from making highlight film to contacting coaches and keeping up with things. But it’s worth it when the prize is getting to play at your dream school with coaches that you love. It was a ton of hard work, time and effort, but I’m really blessed to have the opportunity.

—

Erik and Lisa Norgard 

For Erik

Erik Norgard earned nine letters (three each in football, basketball, and track), in Arlington, Washington, in the early 1980’s. Norgard originally enrolled at Western Washington University, before transferring to Colorado in the spring of 1985. Norgard had two stellar years at center at Colorado, earning first team All-Big Eight and honorable mention All-American honors in 1988. Norgard then went on to a ten-year NFL career.

Tell us how you got from Arlington, Washington, to Boulder, Colorado.

I transferred for spring semester 1985 after only one semester at Western Washington University. I was a linebacker and fullback in high school, so I started off playing linebacker at WWU as a freshman. I switched to guard after some injuries on the team created a chance to start and started at that position for 10 out of 11 games that season.

 Since I was a walk-on transfer (CU did not recruit me to transfer, it was my choice) and WWU was a DII school, there was no need to sit out. I didn’t play that next season (’85) because I was still trying to earn a scholarship, which I did in spring of 1986. I broke my foot in spring football that year and sat out that entire following season (’86). Coach Mac honored my scholarship offer, and I spent that season rehabbing and trying to gain weight. At the time I got hurt, CU didn’t have a set “position” for me, but I had done well at guard and center, so that was the goal I was working toward as I came back from my injury.

Coming out of high school, was a football scholarship always in your plans, or were you interested in other sports?

Football, specifically making it to the NFL, had been my goal from about age four. I had just always dreamed of that. I knew that getting a scholarship was the path to that goal. That goal was the catalyst for my decision to transfer to a bigger program, just getting the experience and exposure at a higher level. After college I was an undrafted NFL Free Agent, but I think my walk-on experience at Colorado helped me with that transition, too. Everything I went through in my years at CU was a big part of me achieving a 10-year NFL career. Sometimes the road taken is not always the easiest one, but it’s what you do with the opportunities you’re given that matters most.

How old were you when you first heard from a college recruiter? How were you contacted?

I first heard from recruiters my senior year, and I was contacted by most coaches by phone. I was from a very small school-Division AA-in northern Washington state (only 67 in my graduating class) so there wasn’t a lot of attention from the big schools in our town.

Did you have a “dream school” when you were growing up?

Coming from Washington and having family with alumni ties, the University of Washington was always in the forefront. My parents divorced and my father moved to Colorado in the 70’s, so CU was always in my mind, too. It was really just those two schools growing up that I identified with.

In 1985, when you transferred to Colorado, the Buffs were – sadly enough – exactly as bad off as the Buffs are in 2012. The 1985 Buffs were coming off of a school-record six straight losing seasons (a record tied by the 2006-11 Buffs). Head coach Bill McCartney had been given a contract extension, despite posting a 1-10 season in 1984, and an overall three-year record of 7-25-1. You were coming to Colorado from the state of Washington. What led you to take a chance on Colorado?

My dad lived here in Colorado and while visiting him for Christmas I told him that I planned to try to walk-on at a bigger program. He suggested we go up and talk to the Colorado coaches, which we did over that Christmas break.

Did you talk with any CU coaches? Were you “recruited” to join the Buffs? If so, did they tell you about the new wishbone offense they wanted to run, and how you fit into their plans?

No Colorado coaches recruited me, we really just went up to Boulder and spoke with the walk-on coordinator (name escapes me now), who looked at my grades and my film and said they would give me the chance to walk-on as soon as that spring if I wanted. I made plans to transfer right away, and was enrolled for spring semester shortly after that. There were no discussions about their offense or where I fit as a player, just that I was good enough to compete for a spot, so “come on up”!

When did you first meet Bill McCartney? What were your impressions?

The first time I met Coach Mac was during the off-season program that spring. I thought he was very intense, but I knew immediately that he was the kind of coach I wanted to play for. He was a man with very strong convictions and passionate coaching style and that kind of coach has always appealed to me. You hear him speak and you just want to run through walls for him. I really loved the way he could fire a team up, and I still do.

Had you been to Boulder before? What did you think of the town? Of the University of Colorado? Of the facilities at CU at the time?

Yes, with my Dad living in Colorado I had been up to Boulder before. I always loved Boulder and what’s not to love about the campus? At the time, the facilities were pretty basic, but that was never really a deciding factor in the school I picked. Opportunity to play was my only criteria and I saw that opportunity at CU so I went with it.

What did you know about your fellow CU players in 1985? Colorado was in need of offensive line recruits at the time, especially at your position, center. Did you know anything about any other players who had being recruited at your position?

I didn’t know much about any of the other offensive linemen at that time. I knew I just had to get bigger and learn the system. We had a run-and-shoot style offense at WWU, so my pass blocking skills were already really good. I just had to work on learning to snap the ball. As a walk-on, you run scout team and I got the opportunity to snap the ball a lot that spring for the quarterbacks and Kickers. That really helped with my progression as an offensive lineman, especially as a center.

Did you attend summer school in Boulder? Were there any summer conditioning programs? Did Colorado have any seven-on-sevens or any organized summer programs?

I enrolled for Spring semester, and I did stay up for Summer School the following summer. I don’t remember there being any organized conditioning program or 7-on-7’s for us. At the time, it was just school, training on your own and eating to get huge…

Do you have any other memories from your recruitment out of high school which you would like to share?

My path out of High School was completely different from Clay’s, so going through the process with him was all-new to me. It was nice to see him get the attention and have the experiences I didn’t get to have in high school.

Erik is not only a former Buff, but he is also father of a Buff, Clay Norgard. Clay committed to Colorado in February, 2011, when he was still a junior. Clay is a member of the CU recruiting Class of 2012, and enrolled this past week at the University of Colorado. Clay is eligible to participate in spring drills, and is slated to play fullback for the Buffs.

—

For Erik and Lisa Norgard

There is an old saying in college football that you don’t recruit the player, you recruit the Mom. Was that your experience with the University of Colorado? Was that your experience with other schools?

From Lisa: I feel like the current staff at CU really takes the time to understand each unique “family dynamic” with all of the athletes they’re recruiting. I think they were perceptive to the closeness of our family and made each one of us (even our daughter) feel like we were an important part of Clay’s future at CU, and after his commitment have always made us feel like we’re “Buff Family”. I tried to observe the process with the other recruits who were in town on Clay’s official visit weekend (December 2nd) and it seemed like this was not unique to just our family (over the months after Clay committed I often wondered if we just felt the “warm fuzzies” because we were already Alumni and Erik a former athlete and just knew CU so well, so it was great to see other families on official visit weekend “feeling it”, too). Other parents commented on the “family vibe” that weekend, so it seemed like the coaches really were recruiting not only the athletes, but also selling families on what their vision was (that “Buff Family” vision). We did not see that family-based attention from most of the other schools (a few seemed to be selling that, but not many) that were recruiting Clay, but felt like it might just be because of our bond with CU and our Alumni past, so those with a different approach didn’t really seem that unusual to me.

Would it be safe to say that your family background helped lead Clay to commit to Colorado?

I think it made Clay’s decision to commit to CU a very comfortable and positive one, but I don’t think our (mom and dad’s) past history helped lead Clay to commit to CU. As a parent being asked to send your child off to college eight months earlier than you had planned, it was surely a more comfortable one for us! As much as we were confident that the CU coaches were men who would guide, mentor and watch out for our son, I would probably not have been as confident sending him out of state so early. That’s a huge “trust moment” and just from a parent’s standpoint, we really did feel that level of trust most with the CU coaches.

What was your reaction, as the parents of a player who was pointing toward Colorado, at the firing of Dan Hawkins and the hiring of Jon Embree?

When the previous coaching staff was fired, Clay was not pointing toward Colorado at all, so there wasn’t any existing bond there. CU had only expressed lukewarm interest in him, so his attention was really turned toward the other schools that were already showing high interest. We supported his feelings, and had sort of set aside any hope of him being a Buff.

It was kind of disheartening, but we figured that was just going to be “his path” and it wouldn’t include heading to Boulder. You really have to support your child in the decisions they make, because those decisions are for them and not for you! When Jon Embree and all his staff were hired, as Alumni and with Erik being a former teammate we were of course thrilled for the program and what it meant for the future of CU football, but still didn’t really think CU was in the cards for Clay so the two were kind of unrelated.

Did you have any contact with Dan Hawkins’ staff before they were let go? When did you first hear from Jon Embree’s staff?

We did not have contact with any coaches from the precious staff that were let go. The first contact Clay had from Jon Embree’s staff was when they invited him up for an unofficial visit to see a basketball game in January, 2011. It seemed completely out of the blue, so he didn’t really know what to expect. In a meeting with the coaches that day, they told Clay he was one of three current juniors who were in-state priorities for them and gave him his scholarship offer then. It was quite an experience for him–to go from mentally and emotionally “moved on” and not even thinking about CU to having them tell him that he was actually a priority recruit for them was totally unexpected. It took him a little while to process that! He has said now that he had always dreamed that CU would be the place for him, but I think he had understandably detached himself from that hope with the way things were during his sophomore/junior years. It was great to see his hope restored with the new coaches. As a mom, this is what I am most grateful for about Coach Embree and his staff. They restored my son’s dream, which is just so awesome!

Clay became the first recruit of the 2012 recruiting class, committing just two weeks after the Class of 2011 signed their Letters of Intent. Were there any second thoughts about committing so early? Did you encourage Clay to take a look around, perhaps visit other schools, or talk with other coaches?

I don’t think there were ever any second thoughts for him. Most schools that were interested before his commitment continued to recruit him, and during the contact period last May many came by his high school to see him, but he never wavered. We did encourage Clay to look around before he committed and he went on quite a few unofficial visits in the previous Fall/Winter before his commitment, but once he decided we all knew it was final. When he decided to pursue Early Enrollment there really wasn’t much time to consider anything else, so committing at that time actually didn’t seem all that “early”. He needed to stay on top of the graduation process and focus on finishing everything on time, so to not have the worry about the recruiting/visits/camp circuit last summer and this fall was a big relief for him. He knew that last summer would be his last summer “off” for a few years, so it was nice to see him enjoy it without the stress and pressure of recruiting! It’s really fun to see your child so happy and secure in a decision that will surely shape his future in a great way.

Clay committed before the Buffs had played a down under Jon Embree. Were there any moments, during the 2011 season in which Colorado posted a 3-10 record, in which you had second thoughts about the commitment?

Never. The plan Jon is selling is a long-term one, and he seems to be looking for players who have that kind of a long-term mentality, which Clay really does. His high school team did not have a winning record over the three years he was a varsity starter, yet he was recognized as All-State and All-Colorado as a junior and a senior (as a side note, only three All-Colorado players this year came from teams with losing records). I think there are some players that define themselves as being “winners” based on being on a winning team—some just don’t see themselves as winners unless their team is winning, too. Then there are other players that just know they’re “winners”—they see themselves as winners regardless of the circumstance (winning or losing team), and the push to succeed comes from within for them. Bring enough players with that kind of personal “winning mentality” together and you can’t help but be successful as a team! These are the kinds of kids we’ve observed Coach Embree and staff recruiting now. It goes beyond just being on winning teams, but all seem to have that same personal “winning mentality” and internal drive to succeed regardless of their path to CU.

Did other schools continue to contact you after Clay’s commitment? Did they attempt to undermine Colorado, using either the string of consecutive losing seasons, or the 3-10 record?

Yes, almost all of the schools that were recruiting him before his commitment continued to recruit him after, as well. As the months went by and it was evident that his commitment was firm and he wasn’t planning on doing any camps or taking any visits, the contact with those decreased. Most were Pac-12 schools, but he also had a handful that were Midwest/Eastern schools. Almost all of them were schools that had been recruiting him well before the offer came from Colorado, only a few came in after his CU commitment. None used any negative recruiting tactics, this may have been due to our past CU ties and the fact that Erik played with many of the coaches (I’m not sure). Really most just tried to sell how he would fit in their program, not why their program was better than another.

Were there other players from Clay’s school being recruited by Colorado? By any other BCS conference schools? Did they have any success/horror stories about their recruitment?

There were no other players from his team being recruited by Colorado or any other DI schools this year, he is the only one. His coach even commented last spring that he wasn’t really sure how to handle the attention Clay was getting, he didn’t have much experience with it before Clay. For this reason, we handled most of the recruiting process for Clay. I think the class of 2008 from his high school had three players go DI (Colorado, Air Force and BYU), but after that there really weren’t any until this year with Clay.

At Colorado, Clay will play a position – fullback – which he didn’t play in high school. Is this something you are concerned about?

From Erik: Not worried at all. Bottom line, he’s “a player”. He played a lot of different positions in high school due to team needs and did well with whatever came his way. He just loves to be on the field and he takes the opportunity any way it presents itself. As a sophomore, the best chance for a starting spot for him was along the defensive line, so that’s the opportunity he seized. He earned 1st- Team All-Conference his sophomore year and All-State/All-Colorado as a junior and senior as a defensive lineman. He’s not a prototypical D-lineman, but he still dominated at the position in high school. Moving on to the next level, you just look at how you can best use your skills and build from there.

Clay did play a little fullback in high school, so the basic knowledge is already there. He’s fast, catches well and is a heck of a blocker, so those skills should translate really well for him. I’m excited for him to have Eric Bieniemy as his position coach. I know how EB coaches and it’s just like Clay has been coached by me since he started tackle football in 5th grade. That’s the kind of coaching he really responds to, so there will be no surprises for him in that respect. It’s a great opportunity for him and he’s looking forward to making the most of it. It’s awesome to hear that they want to use you on the field as soon as they can, which was a big reason for his decision to enroll early and just get going. You just have to take the opportunities that are put into your life and make the most of them, which I have no doubts he will do.

Do you have any advice for parents of future potential recruits as to how to deal with the process?

Do your research on coaches and the programs, try to have an honest and open mind about how your son will fit (or not) with a program, and know that it’s never personal. College athletics is bottom-line a business, with grown men trying to earn a living by putting together a winning product. Most have a pretty clear idea of what they’re looking for. If a player isn’t getting attention from a certain program, it’s only because it’s not the right “fit” for the player or the program. Set aside personal feelings about certain schools and be as open as you can to every opportunity that presents itself. As parents, we just hoped that Clay would find the right fit with a program that appreciated and supported him as much as he did them. We are so blessed that it ended up being at Colorado, and so excited for what the future holds for him and for CU–GO BUFFS!

—–

Lance Carl

Lance Carl was a member of Bill McCartney’s first recruiting Class, the Class of 1983. A little background … While McCartney did have a season as head coach before recruiting his first class (Mac was hired in June, 1982, when head coach Chuck Fairbanks bolted for the USFL), but still was saddled with selling a program which had to that point posted four consecutive losing seasons, including McCartney’s 2-8-1 record in 1982. In the Class of 1983, McCartney was able to convince a number of players to sign on with the Buffs, including Jon Embree, Eric McCarty, Mickey Pruitt and David Tate, who had offers from a multitude of successful programs. Then assistant coach Gary Barnett called the recruiting pitch “Belief without Evidence”.  The Class of 1983 helped turn Colorado into a winning program, which allowed McCartney to then recruit the players who won the national championship in 1990.

Lance Carl was an Iowa first-team All-State wide receiver, according to the Des Moines Register. Playing for Fort Madison in 1982, Carl caught 28 passes for 710 yards and eight touchdowns, while averaging 35.0 yards per kickoff return.

How did you and Fort Madison do in 1982?

As I recall, we were 4-6. We lacked depth on both sides of the ball, and the majority of us went both ways. I played free safety on defense.

Was a football scholarship always your plan? When did you know that you had Division 1-A talent?

I was actually a better baseball player (All State center fielder) and was getting recruited by several Division-1 programs. Football was my 2nd favorite sport. I realized I had D1 talent following my junior year when I began hearing from universities in the Midwest.

How old were you when you first heard from a college recruiter? How were you contacted?

I was 16 yrs. old, following my junior year. I was contacted by mail and then by telephone.

What schools recruited you? Did you have a favorite? A dream school?

Iowa, Iowa State, Nebraska, Notre Dame and Northern Iowa primarily. Growing up 90 minutes from Iowa City, I was a Hawkeye fan and thought it would be cool to go there. I’d gone there for Lute Olson basketball camps throughout high school and was familiar with the city and campus.

Iowa is not normally a recruiting hotbed for the University of Colorado. How did you and the Buffs connect?

One of Coach Mac’s classmates from Mizzou, Don Gill, contacted CU on my behalf. At the time, they had only one other Iowan on the roster, defensive tackle Joe O’Brien. Coach Mac’s offensive coordinator, Ron Taylor (who was also the quarterback at Mizzou when Mac was the center in the early 1960′s), came to visit me in Fort Madison. He saw me play basketball and then watched some game film – he then called Coach Mac and told him he needed to visit me as well.

Colorado, in the fall of 1982, went 2-8-1 in the first season under Bill McCartney. It was the fourth straight losing season posted by the Buffs, so there was little to objectively indicate future success. What was your impression/knowledge of the team?

I had no knowledge of Colorado or the Buff tradition. I’d never been west of Iowa and literally had to get out the Encyclopedia Brittanica to see where Boulder was.

Which CU coaches were recruiting you? What did they tell you about the offense they wanted to run, and how you fit into their plans?

I was recruited by Ron Taylor. My position coach my freshman year was Jim Caldwell, current Indianopolis Colts head coach. Coach Caldwell was an Iowa grad and was familiar with Fort Madison. At the time I was recruited, we had twor or three wide receivers on the field and threw the ball 30+ times a game. The staff thought I could fit in seamlessly.

When did you first meet Bill McCartney? What were your impressions?

I met Coach Mac one week after Coach Taylor came to visit. It was in the winter, I believe in December. He walks in the front door, introduces himself and asks me to come back in two hours. He wanted to spend some one-on-one time with my mom. I actually thought to myself, “Aren’t you here to see me?” I came back two hours later and they were at the dining room table reading the Bible together! Coach Mac stood up, shook my hand again and said he’d like for me to visit Boulder. He said he liked the way I caught the ball, liked my character and thought I’d be a good fit for the program he was going to build.

Did you take an official visit to Colorado before committing? If so, what was it like? What did you do when you were in Boulder?

I was the last player that Coach Mac recruited in his first class. I took my recruiting visit in January and left Iowa temperatures in the single digits, gray skies and gloomy. That Colorado day was like so many in the winter – temperatures in the 40s, blue skies and white powder on the ground. I caught that view coming down US highway 36 and said to the coach, “What was your record last year?” He said, “2-8-1.” I said, “I’m in.” I came in on a Sunday night and a former high school classmate from Iowa had moved to Wheatridge. Her family came to Boulder, picked me up and I had dinner with them that night.

I was the only recruit in the weekend and my host was running back Chris McElmore – great guy, very quiet though. He was a holdover from the Fairbanks’ staff. He liked Coach Mac and the new staff and thought they’d turn things around. I got to tour the campus on Monday and met with Coach Caldwell and a few other coaches. Colorado was unlike anything I’d ever seen and I remember thinking that I was so grateful to Don Gill for making that phone call. The facilities and weight room were shoddy, Balch Fieldhouse is the same now as it was then.

Did you take any other official visits? How did your visits compare? (Better or worse facilities; nicer town; friendlier coaches; better players, etc.).

I took visits to Iowa, Iowa State and Northern Iowa. Actually planned to go to Iowa and play baseball and football but after meeting Coach Mac, visiting the campus and meeting with the coaches, it was CU all the way. Iowa had a great campus and Iowa City is a great college town. Ames is a nice college town as well. Since there are no pro teams in Iowa, it’s all Iowa or Iowa State, depending on which side of the state you live in. I wasn’t particularly fond of Nebraska or Notre Dame growing up so I didn’t take trips to either. The facilities at Iowa were considered good for that time and Iowa State’s were average.

The 1980′s were a period in which there were numerous recruiting scandals (SMU was on its way to the death penalty; every SEC team seemed to take pride in being on probation). Were you aware of any recruiting improprieties, either in the your recruitment, or the recruitment of your teammates? Were you aware of / expecting any “extra benefits”?

As a 17-year old, I was naïve to the whole recruiting process. My mom had no idea of scholarships for playing sports until meeting with a few coaches during recruiting. I wasn’t aware of nor did I expect any “extra benefits.” I thought my visiting the schools was benefit enough.

What did you know about your fellow CU recruits? Without the internet, it would have been difficult to track the recruiting class of 1983. What did you know about other player who were being recruited at your position?

I was the last recruit of Mac’s first class and came in alone during my visit in January. I didn’t know anything about the other recruits except that they’d made an impression on the in-state kids and many were buying into Coach Mac’s vision for the program.

Was there any fanfare at your high school on Signing Day? Was there a Signing Day – or did you just mail/fax in your Letter of Intent?

There was no fanfare at my high school. The local paper came to my house on Signing Day and took a photo of me signing with my mom looking on.

When did you get out to Boulder? Did you come early, and attend summer school? Was there any summer conditioning programs? Any seven-on-sevens?

I came to Boulder that summer following graduation. I drove out with 2 other recruits from NW Missouri, offensive linemen Joe McCreary and Tim Harper. The first time I conditioned, I thought my lungs were going to explode. We got together and worked on routes, timing, etc.

You were in the same recruiting class as CU head coach Jon Embree. Do you remember when you first met Embree? What about other members of the Class of 1983?

Jon was one of the first guys I met and is one of my most trusted friends to this day. At that time, frosh stayed in Aden Hall for two-a-days. Being the last recruit, I hadn’t met any of the guys before and was very nervous. Jon, Tom Gebhardt, Eric McCarty and a few others were very friendly and welcomed me right away. I heard a few jokes about being a Black guy from Iowa! The first night, Jon, Tom Gebhardt, John Nairn, Sam Smith, Mike Marquez and I jumped in Tom’s 280Z and headed to Pearl Street. I remember almost being late for curfew our first night! Our class is exceptionally close and I keep in touch with those listed above as well as others. We’ve been in each other’s weddings, golf together, etc. I serve on the Buffs4Life Foundation board of directors with Joe McCreary and Jon.

Any other memories from your recruitment you would like to share?

I’ll never forget what my mom said after Coach Mac left our house. She said, “He’s the only man that I trust. He’ll see that you get an education and become a man.” Growing up without a father, that statement really resonated with me. Although CU was a long way from my home in Iowa, she saw the benefit of my leaving Iowa and wanted me to experience something beyond my dreams. Her self-sacrifice and belief in Coach Mac spoke volumes to me.

—

Lance Carl went on to lead the Buffs in receiving in both 1986 and 1987, taking over that role from Jon Embree, who had led the team in receiving in 1984 and 1985. Carl is most remembered by many Buff fans as being on the receiving end of a halfback pass from O.C. Oliver on the first play of the fourth quarter of the 1986 Nebraska game. The 52-yard touchdown gave Colorado a 17-7 lead in what would become a 20-10 victory, the first win over Nebraska for Colorado since 1969.  If you must (and you should), here is the YouTubeVideo of Lance Carl’s touchdown catch against Nebraska (please make note of the first CU player to greet Carl after the score. He’s No. 80 … He was the tight end … am I giving it away?).

As mentioned, Lance remains close to the CU athletic program, and is on the Board of Directors for Buffs4Life, a Foundation which has, as its mission statement: “We provide a support system that ensures that no University of Colorado athlete past or present shall suffer any medical or financial hardship alone.”

Jon Embree Press Conference Notes

- The 28 recruits are the most signed in any one Class at Colorado since 1978 … nine defensive lineman represent the most ever in one recruiting Class … by the same token, 2012 was the first time that no player was signed who was designated as a linebacker.

- Of the 28 players, 23 played in at least one other sport at the varsity level; 16 participated in track and field, ten played basketball (“we have some good basketball players in this class”, Embree joked at his press conference), two played baseball; one played soccer; and one wrestled.

- A total of 20 of the 28 signees won a championship of some kind in high school, with 49 combined titles. Six won a total of eight outright state championships.

- In all, ten players were from California, seven were from Texas. With this Class, Colorado signed as many players from Washington D.C. (the “D.C. Three”) as it did from the state of Colorado. “When I got here, we wanted to re-establish Colorado in three areas. We accomplished that in two areas (California and Texas) … I didn’t do a good enough job (on recruiting in-state players) … We haven’t been what we’re going to be (which is why CU is struggling with in-state recruits), but eventually it will turn.”

- Several schools tried to “flip” some of CU’s verbal commitments, but all remained solid with the Buffs.

- On not signing any linebackers with this Class – “Linebacker really wasn’t a priority”. Embree stated that this year defensive backs and defensive linemen were the priority, and that he told last year’s three linebacker recruits were told that it was their job to carry the load. Embree did indicate that there were several linebackers that CU looked at, but “we didn’t take one; and one chose not to be a Buff” (Seth Jacobs – who signed with Oklahoma State?).

- On not signing a higher number of offensive linemen. “Is there great depth (along the offensive line)? No. But we had more pressing issues”.

- On using up all of the 85 scholarships – No. According to Embree, Colorado still has one scholarship available. “You always keep one in your pocket,” said Embree. “Just in case.”

- On how many of the 28 recruits can play next fall as true freshmen – “All of the defensive line (recruits); wide receivers; defensive backs … About 75% have an opportunity to earn some playing time (this fall)”.

- On keeping open a scholarship for Yuri Wright, even after he was expelled from his high school for his tweets – “I view one of my jobs is to teach African American boys how to become men”, said Embree. “It was a hard conversation (with Wright) … I want to help them, not just Yuri … I’m glad that he chose to come here … I have 105 players in the lockerroom. I have to help them become men”.

—–

3:00 p.m. – Gerrad Kough ends any suspense about a possible grayshirt, becoming the last verbal commitment to send in his Letter of Intent. On the day, Colorado went 28-for-28 on signing those players who gave Colorado their verbal commitment!!

12:45 p.m. – The only player who has not sent in his Letter-of-Intent, from amongst the 28 players who had given their verbal commitment to the University of Colorado, is offensive lineman Gerrad Kough, from Pomona, California. While conspiracy theorists might speculate that CU is trying to get Kough to grayshirt (perhaps in order to make room for quarterback Cyler Miles or linebacker Seth Jacobs), the fact of the matter is that Kough has indicated that he will be faxing in his Letter-of-Intent at 3:00 p.m. MT, and there is no indication that this will not take place.

12:30 p.m. – Time to get up in Honolulu! Three-star defensive lineman Kory Rasmussen has sent in his Letter-of-Intent from the islands. Also signed on is Derek McCartney, who will be a grayshirt, and will not count against the 2012 Class total.

11:30 a.m. -  Three-star defensive tackle Tyler Henington, from Mullen high in Denver, took part in his school’s signing day gathering, putting on a Colorado hat to become the 26th member of the CU recruiting Class of 2012! We’re now down to two verbals - OL Gerrad Kough and DL Kory Rasmussen – who haven’t faxed in their Letters of Intent.

11: 15 a.m. – Still waiting on the final three – Henington, Rasmussen, and Kough. Interesting side note: there is buzz about Tyler Henington heading to the Mullen signing ceremony to sign his Letter of Intent for Colorado (not news), but that Henington’s teammate, quarterback Cyler Miles, has been a no-show. A long-time Washington commit, Miles was recruited late by USC, and reportedly will choose between the two this afternoon (there are, of course, posters who believe that CU is making a late push for Miles … but that would be a shocker. CU has its quarterbacks in Wood and Dillon, and doesn’t have room for Miles. Still, it’s always fun to speculate … ).

10:45 a.m. – Jon Embree press conference scheduled for 2:55 p.m. (why not at 2:45 or 3:00 p.m.? Only Dave Plati knows for sure …) – CU at the Game will have it covered!

10:30 a.m. - Upland, California, trio now all on board as running back Donta Abron and defensive back Marques Mosley have now joined teammate Christian Powell on the CU football team. We’re now down to three verbal commitments who have yet to send in their Letter of Intent: DL Tyler Henington (Denver); Kory Rasmussen (Honolulu – it’s 7:30 a.m. there), and OL Gerrad Kough (Pomona, California).

10:00 a.m. – Three-star running back Davien Payne bring his 1,559 yards and 28 touchdowns to Boulder from Perrius, California.

9:45 a.m. – Three-star defensive end Kisima Jagne removed from MIA list, joins LOI list as 22nd Buff from the Class of 2012!

9:20 a.m. – So, who’s left? Still waiting to hear from the following verbal commitments (most from Pacific time zone): DL Tyler Henington (Denver): DB Marques Mosley (Upland, California): RB Donta Abron (Upland, California); DL Kory Rasmussen (Honolulu); DL Kisima Jagne (Chandler, Arizona); RB Davien Payne (Perrius, California); and OL Gerrad Kough (Pomona, California) … and for the optimists: LB Seth Jacobs (announcing tonight).

9:00 a.m. – The “mystery” signee, former UCLA commit Christian Powell, officially agrees to bring his atheltic talents to Colorado!

8:55 a.m. – The “D.C. Three” – four-star defensive back Kenneth Crawley, three-star defensive end De’jon Wilson and three-star defensive back John Walker all sign with Colorado, bringing the LOI list up to 20 players.

8:45 a.m. – First chance to take a breath … 17 Letters of Intent already in!

8:35 a.m. – Buena Park, California, defensive lineman Josh Tupou becomes the fourth defensive lineman to sign a Letter of Intent in the last 20 minutes!

8:30 a.m. – Westlake Village, California defensive line teammates Johnny Stuart and Justin Solis join the Buffs!

8:25 a.m. – Wide receiver/kick returner Gerald Thomas, from The Colony, Texas, makes it an even 14 for the CU Class of 2012.

8:20 a.m. – Colorado Class of 2012 already almost half filled, as quarterback Shane Dillon and defensive lineman Samson Kafovalu join the team.

8:15 a.m. – Defensive back Jeffrey Hall, from LaPlace, Louisiana, just committed to the Buffs a few days ago. Now he is a Colorado Buffalo!

8:10 a.m. - One of the last one to commit in becomes one of the first to confirm – tight end Vincent Hobbs is officially a Buff!

8:05 a.m. – Wide receiver Jeffrey Thomas officially joins the Buffs!

8:00 a.m. – In addition to Clay Norgard (green-shirt) and Alex Lewis (gray-shirt), both of whom will count against the Class of 2013, the following players have already sent in their Letters of Intent:

Yuri Wright (defensive back); Jeromy Irwin (offensive lineman); Sean Irwin (tight end); Terrence Crowder (running back); Peyton Williams (wide receiver); and Austin Ray (tight end)

Just click on the “Comment Now” link, and let us know your thoughts …

Facilities upgrade unveiled

Sorry about the picture quality – it’s from a twitter feed, but it does give you an idea of what is being proposed for an upgrade to Folsom Field.

Which you can compare to the present Folsom Field:

The new building, which will be to the northeast of the stadium, will also come with some additional seating in the northeast corner. When this expansion will take place, how much it will cost, and how it will be paid for, will hopefully be explained at the recruiting luncheon on Thursday.

 Rocky Mountain Showdown moved to Sunday

Not a real surprise, when you’ve got 3-9 v. 3-10 …

While the television coverage, and the time for kickoff, have yet to be announced, the Rocky Mountain Showdown between Colorado and Colorado State in Denver has been moved from Saturday, September 1st, to Sunday, September 2nd.

Colorado to add women’s lacrosse team

The University of Colorado has worked with the NCAA minimum of 16 sports for a number of years.

With the new Pac-12 television contract money now in sight, the Buffs are looking to expand their athletic footprint.

Earlier this month Colorado athletic director Mike Bohn said that girls lacrosse is the fastest growing sport at the high school level in Colorado and much of the rest of the nation and that it would make sense for many reasons for CU to add women’s lacrosse. Bohn said at that time the department is targeting the 2013-14 school year for the new women’s program to begin competing. He said it could compete as a club sport prior to that.

Startup costs for the program will be relatively minimal with no new facilities required.Women’s lacrosse is played in the spring and the CU team would play in Folsom Field and likely use the practice bubble and the same outdoor practice fields utilized by the football team.

The program will compete in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation in the sport because the Pac-12 Conference does not sponsor women’s lacrosse. That could change in the future because CU will be the fifth Pac-12 school to field a women’s lacrosse program along with Stanford, Cal, Oregon and USC.

Bohn said earlier this month that CU needed to add a women’s sport to help correct the imbalance in the department between the total number of opportunities offered to men and women and the money spent on men’s and women’s programs as required by Title IX laws.

Women’s lacrosse will be the 10th women’s sport at CU joining women’s basketball, cross country, golf, skiing, soccer, tennis, indoor track, outdoor track and field and volleyball.

January 31st

Colorado defensive lineman Will Pericak arrested

Not the news the Buff Nation was looking for – especiall when the defensive line is already paper thin (so thin that the Spring Game might once again be a Spring Scrimmage) …

According to the Daily Camera … Boulder police arrested senior-to-be Will Pericak after they say he lit the contents of a metal bucket on fire at a Pearl Street bar and then refused to leave early Sunday morning. Pericak, 21, a starting defensive lineman for CU, was arrested on suspicion of physical harassment and trespassing, according to a police report.

According to the report, at around 1 a.m. Sunday, a bartender at the Pearl Street Pub and Cellar at 1108 Pearl St. said Pericak lit the contents of a metal bucket on fire. Bartenders said the bucket contained trash and miscellaneous papers and were able to put it out with no damage to the bar.

When the bartender asked Pericak to leave, he refused and then started swearing and walked aggressively towards the bartender, police said. The bartender told police Pericak then gave the bartender what he described as a “chest-bump.”

Pericak, who graduated from Boulder High, played in 13 games for the Buffs and was fourth on the team in tackles with 64 in 2011, his junior season.

Dave Plati, a spokesman for CU athletics, said head coach Jon Embree is aware of the arrest but is waiting for the case to be resolved before making a decision on any disciplinary action.

Pericak is free on bond. He did not return calls for comment Tuesday afternoon.

In January of 2011, Pericak and two other CU football players were investigated for vandalism after security tapes in a Denver parking garage caught one of the players kicking a car. The players paid for damages and no charges were filed.

The incident might not cost Pericak a great deal of playing time this fall (unless stupidity is made a felony), but there will almost certainly be some form of punishment, which could include a suspension.

January 30th

Identifying the mystery recruit

There has been a great deal of hinting/guessing/speculating about a “mystery” recruit signing with the Buffs on Wednesday. The reason for the “mystery”, as the story goes, is that the player has already committed to another team, but does not want to disclose his change of heart before Signing Day, so as to avoid having to discuss his change of heart.

If a player is going to “flip” to Colorado at this late date, chances are pretty good that they have taken an official visit to Boulder (best guess: A recruit just isn’t going to change a commitment on spec). That being said, for it to be such a mystery, it is likely going to be a player of fairly high ranking – otherwise why the fuss?

Taking those factors into consideration, here are the candidates who meet all three criteria: 1) a commit to another school; 2) who has taken an official visit to CU; and 3) has a high-profile ranking:

(1/31 UPDATE: Hints are that it will be fullback Christian Powell, below, who will become the “mystery” signee on Wednesday) …

Kyle Kelley – Arizona Commit - DE – Just the facts … Kelley is a defensive end prospect from Irvine, California. Kelley is 6’3, 205-pounds, and runs a 4.82 in the 40. Kelley is considered by Rivals to be a four-star prospect, the No. 13 defensive end in the nation, and the No. 205 player on the Rivals 250. Scout lists Kelley as a three-star prospect, the 41st-best defensive end nationally. Kelley has other offers from … a number of other schools, most significantly Arizona.   Kelley committed to the Wildcats in July, but has been looking around since Mike Stoops was fired in October. Kelley remains on the Arizona board, but he has interest from schools other than Colorado, including both Washington schools, Utah, UCLA, Arizona State, and Florida. Rivals bio  Scout bio

Jalen Cope-Fitzpatrick – USC Commit – TE – Just the facts … Cope-Fitzpatrick is a tight end prospect from Rocklin, California. Cope-Fitzpatrick is considered to be a four-star prospect by both Rivals and Scout. Cope-Fitzpatrick is 6’5″, 250-pounds, but can still run a 4.9 in the 40. Rivals has Cope-Fitzpatrick as the No. 7 tight end in the nation, while Scout lists him as the No. 4 tight end nationally.He caught 29 passes for 433 yards and five touchdowns while helping Whitney to 10 wins and a Capital League title this fall. Cope-Fitzpatrick has other offers from … just about everywhere, even though he has been a USC commit since June. Almost every Pac-12 school has offered Cope-Fitzpatrick, as well as schools like Nebraska and Miami. Cope-Fitzpatrick has taken official visits to Oregon and UCLA, but his decision will come down to one of three schools – Oregon, Colorado and USC. When asked at the Under Armour camp about his commitment, Cope-Fitzpatrick indicated that he remained “solid” with USC, and will take his official visit to USC the weekend after visiting Boulder. To be honest, it sounds as if Cope-Fitzpatrick is just enjoying the recruiting process, and that CU has little or no chance of flipping this prospect. He has been to Boulder already (this past summer), and when asked about visiting Colorado, he was most interested in … “seeing the snow”.

Steven Moore – Cal Commit  – OL -  Just the facts … Moore is an offensive line prospect from Elk Grove, California. Moore is 6’6″, 265-pounds, and is considered to be a three-star player by both Rivals and Scout. According to Scout, Moore is the No. 54 offensive tackle in the country. Moore has other offers from … at least four Pac-12 schools, including Utah and UCLA. Moore has been an Arizona commit since June, but de-committed after Mike Stoops was fired. Moore only took official visits to UCLA, Cal, and Colorado. Rivals bio  Scout bio

Christian Powell - UCLA Commit – FB – Just the facts … Powell is a fullback prospect from Upland, California. Powell is 6’2″, 250-pounds, and also plays defensive tackle. Powell is considered to be a three-star prospect by both Rivals and Scout. Rivals has Powell rated as its No. 57 “athlete”, while Scout ranks Powell as the No. 9 fullback prospect in the nation. Powell has other offers from… Nebraska, Texas A&M, and Washington, and has attended camps at both UCLA and USC. Colorado was Powell’s fourth official visit, having already taken in the sites in Lincoln, Seattle, and College Station. While the Buffs’ pro-style offense, which is in desperate need of a fullback, would seemingly be a draw for a player like Powell, it sounds as if the Buffs have their work cut out for them. “I would say Washington and Texas A&M are my top two,” Powell said – before he committed to UCLA. “I told the Washington coaches I was really interested in them and that I that their program would be a good fit for me, but that I wanted to take all my trips before making a final decision.”  Rivals bio  Scout bio

Reshawn Hooker – Utah Commit – LB – Just the facts … Hooker is a linebacker prospect from Fontana, California. Hooker is 6’2″, 200-pounds, and runs a 4.57 in the 40. Hooker is considered to be a three-star prospect by both Rivals and Scout. Rivals has Hooker rated as its No. 43 outside linebacker nationally, while Scout ranks him No. 55. Hooker has other offers from … at least a dozen other schools, including most of the Pac-12. Both Arizona schools offered, as did UCLA and Washington State. Hooker only took two official visits - to Colorado (for the Washington State game), and Utah in January. Said one scout on Hooker: He is somewhat slight, but has great agility and speed and can hit. He moves extremely well laterally and has good change of direction. Needs to add some weight.

Other possibles (though less likely as CU has just added three defensive backs in the past week) … Defensive back Leo Thomas (three-star Arizona commit, only took official visits to CU and Arizona) … Defensive back Ryan Lewis (three-star Pitt commit, only took official visits to CU, Pitt and Utah).

First of Facility upgrades?

According to the Boulder Daily Camera, The University of Colorado will add two new digital video boards to the north and south ends of Folsom Field in time for the 2012 season if the Board of Regents approves the $7 million project at its Wednesday meeting.

The stadium currently uses boards that are 13 years old and feature outdated technology. The boards have malfunctioned numerous times on game days and during other events in recent years.

The new boards will fill the existing framework of the old boards 100 percent with video. The current boards only use about 40 percent of the available space for video. They were installed in 1999 at a cost of $3.6 million and had a 10-year life expectancy. The new boards are expected to last 12 years.

“The new boards will be a dramatic improvement in quality, quantity of video and the presentation will significantly enhance the fan experience exponentially,” athletic director Mike Bohn said.

Bohn said the new boards will be paid for through a variety of auxiliary revenue sources, including advertising money from ads that appear on the boards during games, private donations, ticket revenue and conference distributions.

This is the first facilities upgrade at Folsom Field since 2003 when the east side expansion was completed, adding 1,903 club seats and 41 suites to the stadium at a cost of $42 million.

January 27th

Austin Vincent still wants to be a Buff

This week it was announced that freshmen offensive lineman Paulay Asiata and wide receiver Austin Vincent were no longer with the team.

At the time, the loss of Asiata, who played as a true freshman at guard, and was being looked upon as a potential starter in 2012, was seen as the greater loss. There was hope for his return, but then Asiata posted on Facebook, “Farewell Colorado, it’s been a fun ride. Sorry to disappoint everyone. One day, I’ll be back on top.”

The loss of Vincent, on the other hand, was largely met with indifference. Vincent appeared in only one game last fall, and was suspended from the team after he was arrested on misdemeanor charges stemming from an incident in a dorm shower. Vincent returned for spring classes only to be informed that he had been suspended for the spring semester by the CU Office of Judicial Affairs.

Done and done, right?

Not so much in Vincent’s case, as it turns out.

Vincent, while remaining quiet about the incident which led to his suspension (the matter is under appeal), is planning on working his way back onto the team. Vincent is from DeSoto, Texas, and has gone home to enroll at Cisco College in central Texas. His intent is to take classes and stay on his eligibility track. If all goes well, Vincent will complete spring courses at Cisco and return to Boulder this summer to work with his CU teammates and re-enroll at CU in the fall.

Vincent asked BuffStampede.com to pass along this message to the Buff Nation: “Hopefully I can return really soon. I just want the Buff fans to know that I am moving forward through this rough time in my life.”

As we don’t know all that happened in the dorms last November, all we can do is take at face value what Vincent is saying. While Paulay Asiata couldn’t be bothered to go to classes or meetings, Vincent has recognized his mistake, and is actively attempting to find his way back onto the team.

Here’s hoping it works out for him …

January 26th

Not too early to look at 2013 … and 2014

While the Colorado recruiting Class of 2012 continues to take shape, there are two 2012 prospects who will not become Buffs on February 1st …

… but they still may end up wearing the black-and-gold.

Ed Caldwell

BuffStampede.com is reporting that offensive tackle Ed Caldwell, from Highlands Ranch, Colorado, has agreed to join the Buffs as a preferred walk-on.

Caldwell is 6’6″, 278-pounds. He was second-team All-Continental league last fall, and was a participant in CU’s Big Man Camp last year. Caldwell was only being recruited by FCS schools, and chose to come to Boulder as a preferred walk-on instead.

(A preferred walk-on is still a walk-on – they are not on scholarship. They are, however, as invited players to the team, given a closer look and are allowed to participate more actively with the team. The promise to a preferred walk-on: You show us you  belong, and we’ll have a scholarship for you. A significant number of former Buffs began their careers as walk-ons, including Travis Sandersfeld, Jason Espinoza, Scotty McKnight, Joel Klatt, John Torp, Ryan Sutter, Jeff Campbell, etc., etc., etc.). Rivals bio

Jason Gaines

If you have been paying close attention to the official visit list, the name Jason Gaines should sound familiar.

Gaines was an official visitor this past weekend, but his presence raised some eyebrows. To refresh your memory, here was Gaines’ write-up from “Stoppin’ by for a Visit – January 20th”:

“Jason Gaines – TE/’WR – Just the facts … Gaines is an unrated wide receiver/tight end prospect from El Cajon, California. Gaines is 6’4″, 205-pounds. For a 10-3 Christian high team in El Cajon, California, Gaines had 47 catches for 557 yards and six touchdowns. Gaines also had eight carries for 54 yards and two touchdowns (he also had time to post 25 tackles, including four sacks, on defense). Gaines has other offers from … no one. Neither Rivals nor Scout has them in their database, and no stories mentioning Gaines have been posted by either recruiting service. Gaines’ only apparent claim to fame at this point, as far as the Buff Nation would be concerned, is that he is a teammate of CU quarteraback commit Shane Dillon, who will also be taking his official visit this weekend. Take that information for what you will, but from a purely objective standpoint, Gaines would appear to be a reach for a scholarship offer …”.

As it turns out, Gaines does not have a scholarship offer from Colorado … at least not yet.

According to BuffStampede.com, it is Gaines’ intention to attend junior college, with a curriculum designed specifically to meet the stiff requirements of the University of Colorado admissions office. “Coach Embree gave me suggestions on some Junior Colleges that I should look into and he said he is going to do everything in his power to help me get there to Colorado,” said Gaines. “Their coaches are willing to be there for me and that means a lot. There are not many college coaches that are willing to be there for a player if he has to go to Junior College for two years.”

Here’s hoping that Mr. Gaines does well on the field in junior college – as well as in the classroom – and that he will be able to join his high school teammate, Shane Dillon, in 2014.

January 25th

Austin Vincent suspended; Asiata ineligible

Paulay Asiata

Freshman offensive lineman Paulay Asiata has left the program – for now.

Asiata struggled academically in the fall semester and is academically ineligible to play. Asiata could fix that problem over the spring and summer semesters.

However, a new NCAA rule mandates that football players who become academically ineligible during the fall semester must sit out the first two games the following season. There is a one-time waiver of the penalty for each athlete. “All I have to say is I’m sorry, and this was a personal decision that I made,” Asiata told buffzone.com. “Also, I like to apologize to all the fans and I’m sorry I let them down.”

Asiata said he plans to remain in school at CU through the spring semester, but he will not participate in football. He said he doesn’t know whether he will continue to play football after leaving CU. He would have to be academically eligible when he leaves CU in order to be eligible to receive financial aid from another school.

“Honestly I really dont know,” he said when asked ahout his future on the gridiron. “I’m going to pray about it because the passion is questionable at this point. I just need time right now to figure out everything because I know I have disappointed a lot of people, especially my teammates. They are the ones I care about the most, not the coaches.” (Really? “not the coaches”? You couldn’t maintain eligibilty by going to class, and you have no love for your coaching staff? Yuck).

The loss could prove to be a significant. As a true freshman, Asiata was in for only 41 snaps from scrimmage n 2011 (with another 31 on PAT’s and field goal attempts), but he was being counted upon to step in as a starter at left guard in 2012, replacing departing seniors Ethan Adkins and Shawn Daniels.

It should be noted that the other guard position also loses two seniors, Ryan Miller and Sione Tau. As a result of the departure of Asiata, in the three-deep end-of-season depth chart, only Daniel Munyer, a converted center, remains on the team.

Austin Vincent

Freshman wide receiver Austin Vincent was recently suspended for the spring semester by the CU Office of Judicial Affairs after he was arrested in the fall semester for allegedly exposing himself to an 18-year-old  female CU student in the women’s bathroom at Willard Hall while she was showering.

Vincent played in one game in his true freshman season last fall against Cal in September. He did not dress for another game the rest of the season, according to notes assembled by the CU sports information staff. Vincent could not be reached for comment.

Colorado now very likely to oversign the Class of 2012

It has long been the position of Colorado head coach Jon Embree that he will sign 27-28 players on February 1st. It is being reported, though, that the Buffs are preparing to send out 32 Letters of Intent. Not all are likely to be returned, but if they are … how would that work?

Even though a school is only allowed 25 members per Class, and only allowed to have 85 scholarship players on the roster at any one time, there are several ways around the 25/85 player limits:

1) Have a player enroll early, and count against the previous year’s Class (which is what the Buffs are doing with fullback Clay Norgard);

2) Have a player delay enrollment, staying out the fall semester, then enrolling in January, 2013, and have that player count against the following year’s Class (which is what the Buffs are doing with defensive lineman Derek McCartney);

3) Figure that some of your prospects will not qualify. The 25-player limit only counts as to the players who show up in August. Many SEC teams for years have used this tactic, signing classes with 30-32 members, knowing that some of the prospects will not qualify, and will not count – ultimately – as a member of the recruiting Class.

If you take a full Class, and have over 85 players on your roster, you still have until August to trim the number back to 85 (since many of the incoming Class members will not enroll until summer, or even the fall). At this point, a school may take “advantage”  of the fact that scholarships are year-to-year agreements with the student-athlete. Although there is some talk amongst the NCAA Board of Governors concerning changing this rule, the reality of today is that, if a coach likes a 2012 recruit more than his senior-to-be backup punter, he can cut the kicker and replace him on the roster with the new player.

Colorado had a large senior Class in 2011, freeing up the coaching staff to have a huge recruiting Class in 2012. The same will not hold true in 2013. The Colorado senior Class will only have 12-15 scholarship seniors. With the Buffs filling out their 85-man roster with an over-signing in 2012, Colorado will have a recruiting Class about the size of USC, which is under an NCAA-madated limit of 15 scholarships.

It is being reported (see below) that offensive lineman Paulay Asiata has been dismissed from the team (for missing classes and workouts), which would free up one more scholarship.

Otherwise, it would only be through attrition that the Buffs would be able to sign a full Class in 2013.

Which should make for some interesting competition in spring practices next month …

Jeffrey Hall not quite ready to commit

For those of you who thought you would wake up this morning to news of a new Colorado verbal commitment … you’ll just have to wait.

It was reported on several sites Tuesday night that defensive back Jeffrey Hall, from La Place, Louisiana, had committed to Colorado. While that may still take place, it hasn’t yet. Hall is choosing between Colorado and Indiana (where he took an official visit this past weekend), and will announce his decision on Friday.

Hall took his official visit to Boulder on January 13th, and here was the write-up posted at “Stoppin’ by for a Visit – January 13th”:

Jeffrey Hall – DB – Just the facts … Hall is a defensive back prospect from La Place, Louisiana. Hall is considered to be three-star cornerback by Rivals, but a two-star wide receiver by Scout. Hall is 5’11″, 180-pounds. Playing cornerback for the first time in his prep career as a senior, Hall recorded nine interceptions, 55 tackles, four-and-a-half tackles for a loss and four forced fumbles. He also accounted for 672 all-purpose yards while helping St. Charles Catholic to a 3A state championship. Hall has other offers from … only a handful of schools. Kansas State has offered Hall, as has Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, Indiana and North Texas. Colorado, along with North Texas, were the only schools to do an in-home visit with Hall in December (Eric Bieniemy and Greg Brown made the trip), which impressed Hall and his mother. The competition, though, for Hall’s services, may come down to CU, North Texas, and the Louisiana schools, because both Louisiana-Lafayette and Louisiana-Monroe have offered Hall the opportunity to play two sports at their schools – Hall batted .453 as a center fielder last season, and may still choose baseball over football. UPDATE: Indiana came in late, with Hall taking his official visit to Bloomington on January 20th.

January 22nd

Coach Mac grandson joins Buffs

Derek McCartney, son of former Buff Shannon Clavelle, and grandson of former CU head coach Bill McCartney, will join the Buffs as a gray-shirt.

McCartney, a 6’4″, 220-pound defensive end from Faith Christian in Arvada, will use the extra season to try and bulk up. Like offensive lineman Alex Lewis, who committed to the Buffs in February, 2011, then joined the team this January, McCartney will join the team as a scholarship player in Janaury, 2013. McCartney will still have five years to play four as a Buff.

McCartney did not have any BCS conference scholarship offers coming out of high school, though he had been invited by both Baylor and Oregon to join their teams as a walk-on.

Welcome to the newest member of the black-and-gold!

January 21st

Tyler Hansen goes out a winner

Most of the players who will be selected in the early rounds of the NFL draft will be playing in the Senior Bowl next weekend, but there were a number of players hoping to improve their draft status took the field for the 87th East-West Shrine game in St. Petersburg, Florida, Saturday.

And Colorado quarterback Tyler Hansen didn’ t hurt his chances of getting a look by the NFL.

The West team rallied from a 10-0 deficit to post a 24-17. Tyler Hansen posted the best stats of the three West quarterbacks, completing 12-of-17 for 144 yards. Hansen also contributed a three-yard touchdown run midway through the second quarter to give the West its first lead of the game, 14-10.

January 20th

Prospect Yuri Wright expelled

Not since the Darrell Scott saga has the Buff Nation been as fixated on the trials and travails of a single recruit.

Four-star cornerback recruit Yuri Wright has been in the Buffs’ sights for months, and has also been heavily recruited by Notre Dame, Michigan, Cal, Rutgers, etc. He was expected to make his announcement in the next week. And now …

Yuri Wright expelled over explicit posts on Twitter

Colorado may still be in the lead for Wright’s services. Michigan has apparently cooled, Cal has had a huge turnover in coaches this week. Notre Dame and Rutgers?

Who knows?

Does Colorado still want Wright?

Here’s guessing the answer is still “yes”.

Here is the write up I did on Wright before his official visit to Boulder on December 10th:

Yuri Wright – DB – Just the facts … Wright is a cornerback prospect from Ramsey, New Jersey. Wright is 6’2″, 180-pounds, and has been one of the most discussed recruits this cycle. Wright is considered to be a four-star prospect by both Rivals and Scout. Rivals ranks Wright as the No. 3 cornerback in the nation, and the No. 57 prospect in the nation overall. Scout, meanwhile, rates Wright as the No. 5 cornerback nationally. Wright has other offers from … everywhere. From Auburn to Wisconsin, from California to Virginia Tech, Wright has offers. Wright’s top seven are reported to be Cal, Colorado, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Michigan, Notre Dame, and Rutgers. While home-state Rutgers has been working on Wright for some time, boyhood favorite Michigan and Notre Dame and Cal seem to be the Buffs’ main competition. Former CU assistant coach Ashley Ambrose has been courting Wright for Cal, and reportedly has been doing a good job of it. Still, Cal was supposed to be Wright’s December 9th official visit, then it was December 16th …

In the end, Wright took official visits to Colorado and Notre Dame, and has scheduled visits for Rutgers this weekend and Cal next weekend.  Rivals bio  Scout bio

January 18th

Buffs’ winter conditioning underway

The 2012 Spring semester started today, and CU football players have more than just classes to worry about.

It’s also the return of winter conditioning.

There is a good article at cubuffs.com concerning Colorado strength and conditioning coach Malcolm Blacken, and how much better things are for the program compared to a year ago.

“Coming in fresh last year, I did not know the personnel,” Blacken told cubuffs.com Wednesday morning before the second of three group workouts. “I evaluated them during this period last year, got a feel for some guys, but I didn’t know what they could do on the football field when it counted – and how much of this stuff transferred out to the field.”

With a season in the books – albeit a disappointing three-win season – Blacken has files to consult. His understanding of the guy he’s working for and the players he’s working with has increased tenfold. And he has a better grip on what Embree needs from a strength and conditioning standpoint (additional recruiting classes aside).

“I think we have some good building blocks,” Blacken said. “I’ve spoken with the guys who are going to be big factors, guys who are going to contribute a lot to this team next year and told them, after having a year under my belt, what we have to work on between now and the first game next fall. I’ve identified strengths and weaknesses and we’re going to work on both. Communication with these kids – they’re like sponges at this age; they like to learn.”

That process started Wednesday morning with one group reporting at 6:30 and two others at 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. About 80 returning players are participating, with that number divided into three groups. Class schedules permitting, Blacken has tried to place players in groups that will be competitive according to positions – i.e., O-linemen and D-linemen, receivers and defensive backs, etc.

Skill position players are doing full-body workouts on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The “big guys” are doing lower body work on Monday, upper body work on Wednesday and a combination workout on Friday. The full team runs on Tuesday and Thursday.

The winter conditioning work will not conclude until March 9, the Friday prior to the start of spring drills on Saturday, March 10. A team bench press competition is scheduled for March 7, with CU’s pro timing day on March 8th.

Most would agree – Embree and Blacken among them – that CU’s first exposure to the Pac-12 last fall exposed the Buffs’ overall lack of speed. He might not be able to lower 40-yard dash times by a couple of seconds, but Blacken is doing what he can to help the last portion of the bigger/stronger/faster equation.

“I changed a few things,” he said. “After looking at this team and how we compared in the Pac-12, I’m starting my speed work sooner this year. I’m working on a lot more power from the ground movements. Football is a game of balance; you get knocked off balance, you have to recover it in a short amount of time. We’re going to do a lot of sport specific training, more so than we did last year.”

He’s also stressing better hydration and nutrition. “We’re going to beat into these guys’ heads how important it is to get the proper rest while they’re training, and how one part of the focus on fitness affects the other,” he said. “We can work their butts off, but if they’re sleeping three hours a night and eating bad, then that hurts us in the long haul. But we’ve got time.”

Entering spring drills and fall camp, Blacken also will have a better understand of how Embree conducts his practices – “And that changes things for me a little bit,” Blacken said. “As far as cardio (work) is concerned, he runs a fast-paced practice, and that’s good. The players understand that and we’ll train accordingly.

“Right now my focus is to train these kids well enough to get through spring ball without incident, so they can run around fast, move fast without pulling and snapping stuff. That’s my goal.”

January 17th

Central Arkansas completes 2013 schedule

While it had been considered likely for some time (fbsschedules.com has had it up for a month or so), the University of Colorado has confirmed its 12th opponent for 2013, the Bears of Central Arkansas.

Central Arkansas competes in the Southland Conference. The Bears posted a 9-4 record in 2011, falling to Montana in the second round of the FCS playoffs.

Colorado will play Central Arkansas in Folsom Field on Saturday, September 7, 2013. The move gives Colorado six home games next season, with five road games to go with the CSU game in Denver.

For those willing to look ahead, the 2013 season is shaping up to be the “break out year” for the Buffs. Colorado does not leave the state of Colorado in non-conference play, with Stanford and Washington dropping off of the Pac-12 schedule (replaced by Oregon State and Cal). With both Cal and Oregon State the two teams most in disarray in the league right now, the trade of the Cardinal and the Huskies for the Bears and the Beavers might be coming at just the right time.

A look at the Colorado 2013 schedule:

Non-conference:

August 31st – v. CSU – Denver

September 7th – Central Arkansas

September 14th – Fresno State

Pac-12 South conference games (times and dates TBA):

home: USC; Arizona

away: Utah; UCLA; Arizona State

Pac-12 North conference games (two home; two away; TBA):

Oregon; Washington State; Oregon State; Cal

With the small number of seniors the Buffs will put onto the field in 2012, there will be a number of starters returning for the 2013 season. If the 2012 Buffs can muster out a six win season this fall, and garner a bowl game, building momentum for a relatively easy 2013 schedule ….

Dare to Dream!

January 14th

Off-Season injury report

The following Buffs remain on the mend, according to the CU athletic department:

Pos  Player                       Injury      Notes                                                                     Status/Spring
CB Jered Bell -  Knee -  Suffered a torn ACL in the third fall practice (Aug. 6) - PROBABLE
DT Nate Bonsu - Shoulder – Underwent postseason surgery to clean up chronic issue – OUT
TB Malcolm Creer - Knee – Suffered a severe sprain in the second quarter at Arizona State (Oct. 29); had November surgery – OUT
ILB Brady Daigh - Wrist – Underwent postseason surgery to mend break that occurred late in the season - PROBABLE
DB Vince Ewing - Knee – Will undergo surgery for chronic problems in January – OUT
DB Sherrard Harrington -Hip  – Sat out true freshman season with a stress fracture, rehabbed without surgery – PROBABLE
OT Jack Harris - Ankle – Suffered a break in the California game, had surgery Sept. 22 – PROBABLE
QB Nick Hirschman - Foot  – Undergoing additional surgery for injury sustained in camp; too early to know spring involvement – QUESTIONABLE
ILB Douglas Rippy - Knee – Suffered torn ligaments against Washington (Oct. 15) and underwent surgery on Nov. 15 – OUT
WR Alex Turbow  - Hernia – Underwent postseason surgery - PROBABLE

While many believed, at least from scout team reports, that the quarterback battle between tranfer Connor Wood and returning backup Nick Hirschman would be ultimately won by Wood, the injury to Hirschman, which is rendering his questionable for spring practice, certainly makes Wood the odds on choice for starting quarterback come September 1st. 

Of perhaps equal concern is the injury to defensive tackle Nate Bonsu. With Bonsu out, the Buffs are left with just three healthy interior defensive linemen for spring practices. Senior Will Pericak is the only healthy defensive tackle that has played more than seven snaps at the FBS level. Colorado does have eight defensive linemen on its commitment list for the Class of 2012, but none have enrolled early, so the CU coaching staff will have to wait until August to have a full complement of bodies along the defensive line.  

January 13th

How much are the Buffs worth?

It’s a down day for the Buff Nation. Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams are reeling from losses to Cal - games which were both winnable.

The latest recruiting news has not been great. Four-star recruits on the CU board are being lost left and right to other schools, most often Pac-12 rivals. Meanwhile, Colorado’s latest commitments have been from players who were either two-star prospects – or were not even rated by the major services. And this weekend, with Boulder showing off its “yes it’s 65 degrees in January!” weather, there are only a handful of recruits in town for official visits.

But hey, at least the football program has great re-sale value!

For a Wall Street Journal article, Ryan Brewer, a professor at Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus, took the time to calculate how much each collegiate program is worth. Among other factors, the study examined each program’s revenues and expenses and made cash-flow adjustments and risk assessments and growth projections for every school.

Not surprisingly, Texas was the top school, worth, in Brewer’s estimation, $805 million. The only other two schools worth as much as $600 million were Florida ($630 million) and Michigan ($618 million).

Colorado came in a more than respectable 29th on the list, valued at $156 million. That was good enough for fourth amongst Pac-12 schools, with USC ($302 million), Washington ($213 million) and Oregon ($199 million) worth more.

Here is a breakdown of the Pac-12 schools (along with their national ranking):

16 – Southern California – $302.3

22 – Washington - $213.1

26 – Oregon - $199.2

29 – Colorado - $156.0

30 – Arizona State -$154.9

35 – California – $135.4

39 – UCLA – $122.6

44 – Oregon State – $119.4

46 – Utah – $113.8

51 – Arizona – $105.4

55 – Stanford – $84.1

63 – Washington State – $63.3

While it was not a surprise that Washington State came in last, it was a surprise that the only other school in the Pac-12 worth less than $100 million was privately owned Stanford.

In case you were wondering … If Colorado was still part of the old Big 12, the Buffs would find themselves seventh overall, sandwiched between Texas Tech (28th) and Kansas State (31st).

So the Buffs have that going for them this weekend … which is nice.

January 10th

Leilon Willlingham transferring to Northern Colorado

It hasn’t even been a year …

Remember how frantic things were, as Signing Day, 2011, approached? Colorado was still in the hunt for several top prospects. Offensive lineman Paulay Asiata had de-committed from Washington, and the Buffs had a chance. Defensive lineman Stephane Nembot had committed to Washington State, then Washington, and was delaying his announcement until late on Signing Day, so that his family in Cameroon could watch him on television. Wide receiver Devin Lucien was choosing between Colorado and UCLA (he went with UCLA).

And then there was Leilon Willingham.

The top rated player out of Colorado in the Class of 2011, the four-star linebacker from Mullen high had offers from all over the country, and the Buff Nation wanted him.

Here’s what I wrote on February 1, 2011, on the eve of Signing Day …

“Four-star linebacker Leilon Willingham would be a huge get, not only because he is a star player, but because he is the top player in the state of Colorado. For Jon Embree to make his mark, he will have to close the state borders to intruders, so getting Willingham to be a member of his first recruiting class would be a huge first step. Willingham committed to Texas A&M over the holidays, then de-committed right before he was scheduled to take his visit to College Station. Willingham took official visits to Colorado, Arizona State, Washington, Michigan, and Central Florida. Willingham visited Michigan last weekend, and the whispers are that Willingham will commit to the Wolverines at 7:30 a.m., tomorrow – maybe …”.

Willingham ultimately signed with Central Florida, much to the disappointment of the Buff Nation.

Now, Leilon Willingham is leaving Central Florida, transferring to 1-AA Northern Colorado. Leilon said it was about getting back to Colorado. “I loved the place and everything,” Willingham told the Orlando Sentinel about UCF. “Coach [George] O’Leary and everyone in Orlando were great. UCF fans are great people. I just needed to be closer to home in Colorado.”

UCF coaches may have had a different take. “I think he’s a kid that I want to see where he best fits,” O’Leary said at the end of the 2011 season. “I think Leilon’s biggest problem is just coverage. … He has a great passion for the game. I was trying to get him on the field as far as a guy that can help us and try to improve the rush status. I think he’s a player we have to evaluate in the offseason to see where he can help us.”

With the move to a 1-AA school, Willingham will be eligible to play right away, and will not have to sit out a transfer year. Still, it is a considerable comedown from being a four-star, top-prospect-in-the-state to a transfer to a Big Sky team which has gone 7-37 the past four seasons, including an 0-11 mark in 2011.

Over the next month, there will be much time and energy devoted in the Buff Nation to the players Colorado will and will not sign, and yes, I will be spending as much time as anyone dissecting the Colorado Class of 2012.

But, as Leilon Willingham’s story tells us, it’s not always about the stars.

It’s about the fit.  

January 8th

CU athletic director Mike Bohn talks about the future

The Boulder Daily Camera put out an interview with Colorado athletic director Mike Bohn. The article covers many topics of interest to the Buff Nation, and is worth reading in its entirety, but here are some of the highlights for Buff fans …

So are you considering getting out of the CSU series (in light of the new contract to play Big Ten teams in non-conference games), which has eight years remaining?

“It’s premature to say that, but the dynamics are certainly changing for us. The change from eight to nine conference games, and now essentially, nine to 10, and all the other things that are moving on us creates another dynamic. But we have a contractual agreement and we honor our contracts.”

Translation: We’d love to get out from underneath that contract, and are trying to figure out a way to do so which doesn’t look like we’re running away scared.

Is the Pac-12 putting itself at a disadvantage because it already plays nine conference games and the Big Ten and other leagues only play eight? Now your conference leader, whoever that is each year, will have a harder road to get to a BCS game than other teams.

“I think you look at Oregon and what a wonderful job they did playing against LSU earlier in the season. I think that’s what we want to do. We want to play on the big stage. We want to play marquee opponents and we want to be in marquee TV slots. We want to continue to draw audience, fans, alumni and young people to the University of Colorado. That will help us do that. One of the neat things about this alliance is we have a wonderful and strong alumni base in the Chicago area and getting to play back in that area at times will be huge for us.”

Translation: It’s all about the $$$. The wins are nice, but we are in this business to make money (although it wouldn’t hurt to win some games and get to a bowl – see Sacramento State, 2012 schedule).

What sort of upgrades is CU planning for Folsom Field and the football program, which generates most of the revenue for your athletic department?

“It has been a very busy 2011 particularly related to the Pac-12 with the new network and with the new revenue streams associated with the network. You’re seeing a lot of our peers in the conference making major investments and the University of Colorado is working extremely hard through the process for similar types of initiatives here. We will continue to work through the process and engage our top leadership and campus leadership and do everything we can to provide upgrades that I believe our fans, incoming recruits and future recruits and our current student-athletes and our community will benefit from long term.”

Translation: We are late to the facilities upgrade party, and are scrambling to figure a way to catch up.

There is a perception from some CU fans that we hear from at the paper, that CU is dragging its feet on announcing facilities upgrades. Why can’t you say more about what you are planning at this point?

“Well, certainly the scope of these projects are such that it requires us to pay attention to every detail. We’re very proud of our track record of improvements that have benefited all of our programs. This basketball practice facility is one that we are very proud of, and our history of delivering on those is validation that we are committed to making more improvements and delivering on those once we have all of our ducks in a row.”

Translation: I hear about this every day. I wish I had an answer, because I know that we are being ridiculed by the fans and media (see CSU story, below). I wish I could have a press conference tomorrow, with blueprints in hand, but, for some reason, we haven’t picked up on the idea (unlike the rest of the Pac-12 schools), that the checks are coming, starting next year, and we should be planning accordingly.

There is an impression out there that you are getting this windfall of Pac-12 money down the road and that is going to solve all your problems and you will be able to build new facilities and make improvements with that money alone. Is that true and what part do donors play?

“When you look at all the significant upgrades around, whether it is in the Pac-12 or TCU’s new initiative or others, there is a private element. Obviously that is a part of it. Part of the silent phase or the process we’re going through first before we start announcing initiatives that aren’t finalized is working on the major private element that is a part of the formula. We’re still dealing with the (financial) issues associated with the departure from the Big 12. We’re discussing the issues associated with adding a new women’s sport. We’re discussing a lot of different pieces that make up all these different issues we’re talking about, which is why we’re not going to come out with a plan or some type of initiative without it being viable.”

Translation: Phil Knight bought Oregon its first Rose Bowl victory since 1917. T. Boone Pickens bought Oklahoma State its first Big Eight/12/10+ title since 1976 (one shared with CU and Oklahoma). Where’s my big check writer?

What women’s sport will you be adding?

“We’re not prepared to make that announcement at this time.”

Translation: We’re trying to figure out a way to make adding women’s lacrosse sound like a quantum leap for the athletic department.

Can you say when you expect to add the sport?

“We plan to make the announcement of the women’s sport later this spring, and the team will begin competition full-fledged in the 2013-14 year.”

Translation: We have no baseball/softball facilities, so it’s got to be a sport which doesn’t require any new buildings. Unless I can sell women’s bowling,  lacrosse would be the logical choice.

…

January 6th

Jack Graham looking for new stadium by 2014

According to a 9News.com story, Colorado State University is planning on having a new, on-site football stadium is not only “going to happen”, but that it will be ready for use by 2014.

“A new stadium is going to happen. This is not a ‘maybe it’s going to happen’ kind of a conversation”, said CSU athletic director Jack Graham. “We are actively moving toward the construction of a stadium on our campus and it is going to happen”.

He said on Wednesday the cost would be between $100 and 200 million. The university will be asking its alumni for donations and will rely upon private funding – not money from Colorado taxpayers – to finance the new stadium.

A location isn’t chosen yet and a myriad of details need to be worked out. Graham promises to “engage the community” when deciding on a site.

Okay, so no money has been raised, a site hasn’t been picked out, and the Rams don’t know how much it will cost …

What the Colorado State athletic director does have, though, is a vision.

Jack Graham can see the writing on the wall in college sports – either you are a “have” or a “have not”.

With CU set to receive ten times as much (and that’s conservative) television revenue as CSU, the Rams are painted into a corner: either find a niche and become relevant, or fade into college football obscurity.

Colorado State is sort of like the downtown mom-and-pop hardware store, fighting to keep alive when Lowe’s and Home Depot come to town and set up shop. Jack Graham can see that fellow Mountain West teams Utah, BYU, Boise State, TCU and San Diego State have made it to the big time … so why not Colorado State?

Why not indeed?

Ft. Collins is always listed amongst the top ten in places to live, and, other than CU, does not have a major BCS around for hundreds of miles. If the Rams ever hope to become relevant (perhaps in the long term as part of a Big 12/16), now is the time to act. The next time the game of musical chairs starts, it might be to form four 16-team super conferences … and CSU doesn’t want to be on the outside looking in.

Can Jack Graham pull it off?

That remains to be seen. For a school which is averaging about 20,000 in attendance in a 35,000-seat stadium, taking a “if you build it, they will come” attitude might not make it with enough donors to make the dream a reality.

But, with Colorado stuck in neutral when it comes to announcing facility expansion (see story, below), you have to at least give Jack Graham credit for trying …

Seven Pac-12 players (to date) have declared for the NFL draft

This week, the number of players from the Pac-12 who have declared for the 2012 NFL draft went from five to seven (eligible underclassmen have until January 15th to declare):

Those players who CU will not have to face next fall include:

LaMichael James, RB, Oregon

Brock Osweiller, QB, Arizona State

Vontaze Burfict, ILB, Arizona State

David DeCastro, OG, Stanford

Matt Kalil, OT, USC

Andrew Luck, QB, Stanford

Jonathan Martin, OT, Stanford

Nick Perry, DE, USC

Chris Polk, RB, Washington

Other notables … include USC quarterback Matt Barkley who has declared that he will return for his senior season next fall, and former Buff Darrel Scott, now of the South Florida Bulls, who has declared that he is opting to try his luck in the NFL draft. While Barkley would likely have been a first round pick, the same cannot be said for Darrel Scott. Scott, who played one season for USF after transferring from Colorado, rushed for a team-best 814 yards. The 6-1, 239-pounder scored all six of his touchdowns against Ball State, Florida A&M and UTEP. He did not rush for more than 100 yards and did not score in eight games against BCS competition.

January 2nd

Ringo on facility upgrades

There has been much hand-wringing in the Buff Nation about the announcements - by seemingly every other team in the Pac-12 – of facility upgrades. There is also the not-so-pleasant reality that the University of Colorado employs the only six figure football head coach.

Kyle Ringo, of the Daily Camera and BuffaloSportsNews.net, has given out a few details concerning what he has heard about facility upgrades. Those comments are worthy of reproduction here:

From the Daily Camera -

“First let me say that CU is scheduled to receive a little more than $21 million in conference distributions in just the first year. It should increase each year after that, especially a few years down the line when the Pac-12 networks are humming along and gaining more audience.

“CU has some big dreams and some smaller ones in terms of facilities upgrades. The priority is a permanent indoor practice facility for football that would be located next to Folsom Field and likely attached to the Dal Ward Center in the northeast corner of the stadium. It would be built on the site where there is currently a small parking lot for student athletes and staffers and where the grounds and recycling center currently resides. It would feature an underground parking lot that could be used on game days by some fans, probably those season-ticket holders with the highest priority numbers, and it could be used by students the rest of the time, including as a parking place for students who want to visit the campus recreation center. It also would include other amenities for student-athletes in all sports, a new football locker room, an expanded weight room and more space for academic needs.

“This idea also would lead to enclosing the northeast corner of the stadium and likely adding more seats, maybe a few thousand at most.

“CU officials also would like to tear down and replace Balch Fieldhouse and Carlson Gymnasium and add suites and a new pressbox to the west side of Folsom Field and new office space for other sports. If the program could justify it with increased demand for tickets, the school might embrace the idea of adding a small second deck of seats on the west side as well when these improvements are eventually made.

“Beyond that, the school always has been interested in improving facilities on south campus for tennis and possibly other sports, but the city has not allowed water out there because some believe it will lead to sprawl. Smaller scale improvements for soccer, cross country/track and field and skiing eventually will happen as well. All of this will take time and is still a few years away at the very earliest. And it won’t be accomplished simply by relying on the new money from the Pac-12. Donors are going to have step up a contribute millions.”

Ringo’s comments from BuffaloSportsNews.net, which has a few variations -

“I was asked last week for the Friday Buffzone.com mailbag about what CU plans to do in terms of facilities upgrades with the new Pac-12 money. I guess the way I worded my answer left some people thinking that I was saying CU is just dreaming about doing what I outlined in my answer.

“Let me clear up that confusion for those of you here. There is a plan in place that will be announced in the near future that calls for CU to build a permanent indoor facility in the area just outside the northeast side of Folsom Field. It will have a parking garage and will be attached to the Dal Ward, thereby expanding that building. It will expand the weightroom, athletic trainer facilities, academic support facilities, etc. and provide other perks for the student-athletes in all sports and maybe even a space for media to work. It would lead to enclosing that corner of the stadium and adding a couple thousand seats at most, maybe not even that many. There are some pretty cool ideas being kicked around for other enhancements tied to this.

“This is the top priority for the athletic department as far as facilities improvements go, but there are many other smaller scale projects the department would also like to do. So, I just want to be clear, since a couple people have emailed me about this, that this is the plan you can expect to be hearing more about from CU in the near future.

“Some people might say it sounds just like the facility originally conceived by Dick Tharp in the Athletics 2010 plan. It is very much modeled after that and keeps a lot of that design, but it is also being updated in many ways.

“Why isn’t CU announcing this yet? It’s just a big idea at this point and Bohn and his staff and the fundraisers at the CU Foundation need to get regents, president, chancellor, faculty on board. PLUS, and this is very important, this project will not get done without major contributions from the few big donors CU has. So they are working that end of it, too. At least trying to get a gift or two lined up to show there is donor backing and it won’t all have to be paid for by borrowing against future Pac-12 revenue.”

While many can understand that the CU administration will require more than Pac-12 revenue to fund capital improvements, there also seems to be a lack of understanding in the athletic department that, just like in recruiting, winning breeds winning, and losing breeds losing. As this off-season has demonstrated, it’s tough for Jon Embree and Co. to sell some of the nation’s elite prospects that they can turn around a program with just three wins in 2011, and bearing  the yoke of six straight losing seasons.

It’s also tough for CU fans to invest in a vision for the future, when no vision for the future has been laid out.

Schools like Utah, Washington State, and Colorado State, schools which many Buff fans would not see as the equal of the University of Colorado, are talking big. Will the new facilities and grandiose plans for the future bear fruit, and propel these programs into the national spotlight? Perhaps. Perhaps not.

But many Buff fans would like to see CU at least get into that same conversation … 

Only two early enrollees this January

In Division 1-A, teams are only allowed 85 scholarship players, and can only sign 25 players in any one class.

There are ways around that, of course.

One way is have a prospect who can graduate early from high school enroll in January. That team can then count the early enrollee against a previous year’s class, provided that class did not have 25 members.

Colorado had 22 members which counted against the Class of 2011, giving the Buffs a chance at having up to three early enrollees this January.

There will be only one.

That is one of the Buffs’ first commits, Clay Norgard, who will play fullback at Colorado. The position was phased out of the program under former coach Dan Hawkins. Norgard recently told recruiting services that CU coaches already have told him he will play as a true freshman.

“I just love to play the game,” he said in an interview with Scout.com this month. “I played fullback in high school some. I know how to block and I think my speed from linebacker will carry over.”

Colorado used converted linebackers Evan Harrington and Tyler Ahles at fullback during Embree’s first season this fall. Harrington eventually proved to be more effective, allowing Ahles to return to defense late in the season.

The other player who will enroll at Colorado in January was a member of the Class of 2011, offensive lineman Alex Kelley. Kelley, from Vista, Calif., signed with the Buffs last February as part of the 2011 recruiting class, but he broke a bone in his left foot in a non-football related accident during the summer and decided to grayshirt this fall, delaying his enrollment to January.

Kelley said he would have come to CU this year a true freshman if not for breaking his foot.

“It was horrible just watching, because I watched all the Colorado games every weekend, and just seeing them going through what they went through I just wish I could have been there and at least try to contribute somehow with what I could bring,” Kelley told the Daily Camera. “But I think this is good for me because it gives me a chance to grow up a year and get a year stronger and everything.”

With the lack of early enrollees, Colorado may not be able to reach the planned number of 28 recruits from the Class of 2012. The only way to move the mark above 26 will be to have a few players agree to grey-shirt, as Kelley did, and defer their enrollment until January, 2013.

The CU coaching staff reportedly asked defensive back recruit Ma’ne Manaea to grey-shirt, but the Lakewood, Washington, prospect has balked, and is reportedly looking to accept an offer from another school (Washington State, Idaho, or Montana).

December 29th

Embree talks recruiting

B.G. Brooks of cubuffs.com did an interview with Colorado head coach Jon Embree, which is important enough to reproduce in its entirety here …

1.    CUBuffs.com: The current dead period ends Jan. 4, and I’m assuming you’ll hit the road immediately. What direction will you head?

Jon Embree: “That’s right . . . and I’m heading West, to Hawaii and California. It’ll be my first trip to Hawaii and second to California.”

•2.    CUBuffs.com: What’s the biggest difference in this recruiting season and last – taking into account the full season you’ve had as opposed to last year?

JE: “The biggest difference is that a year ago, we really didn’t get started (recruiting) until this coming week . . . talk about a short window. This year, we’ve had a better evaluation of players. We’ve gotten to see how they really feel about football and where it is on their list of things that are important to them, where it fits into their lives. And we’ve been able to establish relationships. We’re almost where we need to be . . . I’d like to be doing a lot of junior recruiting, but we’re not at that point yet. Next year I think we can be comfortably looking a year ahead.”

•3.    CUBuffs.com: How would you rate things to this point?

JE: “I think it’s gone very well. We’ve missed on a couple of elite players, but only won three games. Say what want, but at end, it (winning) has to help. At the same time, we’ve gotten commitments from some very good players. We’ve been able to balance the roster at some positions. And there are still some guys we can finish on and have a very good class.”

•4.    CUBuffs.com: Have there been any major surprises out there for you?

JE: “The response has been really good . . . I don’t feel like it’s ever been, ‘Wow, we don’t have a chance on that kid,’ but at the same time just getting in on a kid is not what you’re looking for. Are you in their top two? Did you have a legitimate chance? If you’re just one of five, you’re not really in it. You have to be in their top two.”

•5.    CUBuffs.com: You’ve said before your visits began that prospects’ reception has been good . . . has that held up?

JE: “Yeah, it’s gone very well. Kids have been real receptive. They see the direction of program and want to be involved in helping us continue that process . . . and do some exciting things.”

•6.    CUBuffs.com: Along those lines, is there one common question recruits are asking you?

JE: “Not really, there’s not one general question, but kids see what’s going on. It’s not like they haven’t been paying attention. They see opportunity . . . they can come in and have an impact early. Those kinds of things. Most kids want that opportunity. I’m asking them, ‘Do you want to play or stand on the sidelines and wait your turn?’ These kids want to be a part of something that’s growing. We won two of our last three, and we’ve talked to them about that every time we’ve called them. But you can’t sit there and pretend like you don’t have scars. We do, and I’m going to be honest. I’ll tell where we are, what the deal is. At the end of the day, they’ll know what our goals are – changing the culture, changing the environment, and giving them the opportunity for success in college. They’ve paid attention. It’s been really good.”

•7.    CUBuffs.com: Do you have any “silent” commits?

JE: “Yeah, we’ve got a couple of guys – if they stay true to what they say. But I’ve told them that they need go public. They can help with some of the other players we’re after. If they’re going to truly be in, they need to be in. Taking trips is great, but if you’re going to be a Buff, now’s the time to do it. I can understand that some kids are involved in things they have to do, in recruiting and out. But we’ll see over the next two weeks or so.”

•8.    CUBuffs.com: CU “turned” a handful of recruits last year . . . do you feel you have to take that approach this year?

JE:  “There are a couple of guys we’re actively recruiting who are committed to other schools. A year ago, we went out and got eight players from someone else. This year, we feel like we have to be good with the guys we’ve got (committed). The next two weeks are really important. Some schools during this time frame don’t go out at all. Some go to (high school) all-star games and see guys. We’d rather see the guys we have (committed).”

•9.    CUBuffs.com: Coaching changes have been prevalent . . . has there been an effect on your approach to things?

JE: “It really hasn’t affected us. It may here or there help on a guy, but for the most part it hasn’t done anything. Some name schools – for example, UCLA – didn’t have a coach and still had three kids commit. Now, whether those kids wanted to get in before a coach was named and fill a scholarship, I don’t know. But the overall situation (of schools changing coaches) hasn’t really affected us.”

10.CUBuffs.com: How would you respond to those recruiting analysts who say you’re dangerously short on four- and five-star prospects?

JE: “That’s all right, it doesn’t bother me. To get elite playmakers we have to continue to improve ourselves. You can go around all day about stars. Greg Henderson (freshman corner) did pretty well for us and he wasn’t a five-star guy. I just want football players. That (star rating) stuff is for barrooms and the Internet. You can point to five stars that bust and one stars that become stars. I’m just trying to get the best players. But again, we won three games . . . I don’t think people realize how hard it was for us (CU) in the mid-90s. We’d won a lot of games, we had guys who had won the Heisman, the Thorpe Award and the Butkus. People have to realize we’re not a logo school . . . Ohio State and USC have great classes every year. They’ve got 50 or 60 years of tradition, huge national fan bases. But that doesn’t mean we can’t do it here. That’s what we’re shooting for.”

•11.CUBuffs.com: So, from that answer on the star system, I’m guessing your opinion of those ratings hasn’t changed?

JE: “How many of these people really see kids play? A kid commits to Texas and goes from no stars to three, or from three to five. Explain that to me. I’m not down on these (recruiting) sites; they give fans good reason to go them, but it’s like being in a sports bar. I’m not down on Rivals.com and Scout.com . . . I know they’ve helped kids get noticed. But their rating systems are different from coaches. Look at Michigan State, what was their senior class rated? You get a transfer in, you get some guys who pan out that weren’t five-star guys . . . We – and I’m talking about coaches – have to be able to develop guys to give yourself a chance. That’s just my take on it.”

•12.CUBuffs.com: What would be a best-case finish for the Buffs in the final month leading to signing day?

JE: “First, I’m very happy with the guys we have; we want to hold onto them. But if we could get a couple of more corners, the right tight end, maybe a playmaker or two, the right defensive lineman . . . our situation on that side of the ball is not good. We need to get as many as we can (on defense). Some will play, some will redshirt. We need to build there and have legit depth. This class, with last year’s class, gives us a good base from a program standpoint. We just have to go out and finish strong – and hopefully get a head start on some seniors for next year.”

New Pac-12 coaches having mixed recruiting results

Colorado faces six new head coaches in 2012, four from the Pac-12.

Buff fans are very familiar with a new coaching staff having to scramble to put together a recruiting Class, having lived through it just a year ago.

So, as Signing Day approaches, how are the new Pac-12 coaches doing?

Jim Mora, Jr. – UCLA

While Rich Rodriguez at Arizona and Mike Leach at Washington State were sexier hires, no one is doing as well as Mora in putting together a top recruiting Class.

When Mora was hired in early December, the Bruins had their fare share of commitments, with 12 verbals. Included on that list were two four-star players … but there were also five two-star prospects.

Since his hire, Mora and his coaching staff have been the talk of the recruiting world, with UCLA picking up one top-flight star after another. The Class is now up to 25, and Mora has added no player lower than three-stars, with three four-star and one five-star player giving their commitments to the Bruins.

With just a few days to go before Siginng Day, UCLA has the No. 18 Class in the nation, right behind rivals Cal (at No. 16) and USC (No. 17), and just ahead of Oregon (at No. 19). Scout is even more impressed with Mora’s Class, rating it the No. 10 Class in the nation, tops in the Pac-12.

Heady stuff for Bruin fans … Rick Neuheisel’s last recruiting Class was ranked 45th.

Rich Rodriguez – Arizona

When Mike Stoops was fired mid-season by Arizona, he was already well on his way to filling his recruiting Class. There have been some defections, but ten of Stoops’ verbal commits have stayed with the Wildcats. Of those, two were four-star players (including offensive lineman Kyle Kelley, coveted by the Buffs).

Rodriguez was a “splash” hire, with head coaching jobs at West Virginia and Michigan on his resume.

Has Rodriguez made a “splash” in recruiting?

Not really. Of the nine commits since Rodriguez was hired, none are higher than three stars, with two two-star players and an unrated player (wide receiver Clive Georges, with offers from Florida Atlantic and Western Michigan) added on Sunday.

Arizona has the 44th-ranked Class in the nation to date, with most of the “points” from the Class racked up by Mike Stoops recruits. Scout gives Arizona even less love, ranking the Wildcats’ Class 63rd in the nation; last in the Pac-12.

Mike Leach – Washington State

Former Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach took over for deposed Washington State head coach Paul Wulff on November 30th.

At the time, Washington State had ten verbal commitments, including a four-star offensive lineman, Alex Mitchell, from Portland. The remainder of the verbal commitments were mostly two-star recruits (six in all).

And what has the mad scientist been able to put together in Pullman?

Not much.

Since his hiring, Leach has added 13 recruits, with one being a four-star wide receiver (Vincent Marks, from Venice, California – another Buff recruit). The remainder are mostly three-star prospects, with two two-star players and an unrated player (a defensive end from Pago Pago who had no other scholarship offers).

Interestingly enough, Leach has not added a quarterback to his list of recruits. The only quarterback who has given a verbal commitment to Washington State so far is Austin Apodaca, a two-star prospect from Longmont, Colorado, who gave his verbal commitment to Washington State last June.

Washington State’s Class does not crack the Top 50 in the Rivals rankings, with a No. 60 (11th in the Pac-12) mark from Scout.

Todd Graham – Arizona State

After a protracted – and messy – hiring process, Arizona State hired Pitt head coach Todd Graham to replace Dennis Erickson.

Before he left, Erickson had put together much of the recruiting Class, with 13 verbal commitments, including two junior college players. The list of recruits was mainly filled with three-star players, with one four-star recruit (offensive lineman Evan Goodman), and three two-star recruits.

Graham has pretty much continued what Erickson started. Of Graham’s eight recruits, one is a four-star player (athlete D.J. Foster), but five others (including two junior college players) are two-star prospects.

At present, Arizona State is tied with Washington for the 42nd-best Class in the nation. Scout, meanwhile, puts Arizona State at No. 46, 10th in the Pac-12.

Jim McElwain – Colorado State

Whether Steve Fairchild saw the writing on the wall, or CSU’s recruits did, there was little activity in recruiting in Ft. Collins before Jim McElwain was hired. Only three recruits – a three-star linebacker, a two-star linebacker, and a two-star kicker – had given Colorado State their verbal commitments by the time Fairchild was fired.

McElwain was also hampered by the reality that he was busy at his old job – offensive coordinator at Alabama – until after the BCS national championship game.

And since then?

Colorado State has acquired the verbal commitments from only eight more players (11 total as of Sunday), and, of the eight, none were accorded three stars. In fact, according to Rivals, four of the eight remain unrated.

Needless to say, Colorado State’s recruiting Class remains outside the Rivals top 50. As for Scout, the Rams come in at No. 113 (out of 120 teams nationally), last in the Mountain West Conference.

Tim DeRuyter – Fresno State

It’s always hard to be the guy who replaces “the guy”.

Fresno State hired Texas A&M defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter to replace 17-year head coach Pat Hill. The news of Hill’s firing was something of a surprise, despite the overall decline in the program over the past few seasons.

Still, it shouldn’t have been that hard.

Fresno State had no verbal commitments when Hill was fired, and have picked up only nine since DeRuyter came to Fresno. Of the nine, only two have been given a three-star rating.

Rivals, of course, does not have Fresno State on its radar, but Scout, which does rank all 120 Division 1-A teams, has the Bulldogs coming in at No. 111 – two spots ahead of Colorado State.

January 25th

Oregon recruiting – no impact from Kelly’s trist with Tampa Bay?

Bring in the spin doctors.

You would think that the flirtation Oregon head coach Chip Kelly had with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers would have potential recruits thinking twice about committing to play for Oregon.

The impact of Kelly’s almost-departure on the 2012 signing class is probably minimal, said ESPN recruiting analyst Jeremy Crabtree. But in the long run, Crabtree said, the Ducks could be dealing with this for a while.

“It went from a story to a non-story in 24 hours, so it limits potential damage in the short term,” Crabtree said. “But in the long term, yeah, he’ll be sitting in living rooms with recruits and parents and that question will be brought up. He’ll have to address it.”

It’s also possible, Crabtree said, that opposing coaches will try to use this against Kelly in recruiting.

“Hey, all is fair in love, war and recruiting,” Crabtree said. “Sometimes coaches are not afraid to go negative and we’re talking about 17- and 18-year-olds whose emotions can be swung by the statement of an adult.”

It looks like the Ducks have lost at least one commit from the 2012 class, though it’s unclear what, if any, influence Kelly’s flirtation with the NFL had on the situation.

Jeremy Castro, a defensive end from Murrieta, Calif., on Sunday de-committed from Oregon and instead committed to UCLA, where he visited over the weekend.

Castro is a four-star prospect, and rated the No. 17 defensive end in the country by Rivals.com.

January 23rd

Chip Kelly staying at Oregon

After a brief flirtation with the NFL, Oregon head coach is staying in Eugene.  

“His heart is with college football and Oregon and he’s no longer being considered,” Mark Dominik, Tampa Bay’s general manager said Monday, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

Kelly and the Bucs had been deep in the process of finishing a deal Sunday night.

Kelly, who secretly interviewed with the Buccaneers last week, had been intrigued by the challenge of coaching at the highest level and not having to deal with parents and the NCAA oversights that are inherent to coaching in college, according to ESPN.

January 20th

Mister Jones returns to Colorado … State

Remember Mister Jones?

Mister Jones, from Littleton, Colorado, was a four-star running back prospect from the recruiting Class of 2010. He was considered by Rivals to be the 28th-best running back prospect in the nation.

Jones was also, for about six months in 2009, a Colorado commit.

Here is a look back at my writeup on Mister Jones in December, 2009:

“The recruiting class discussion (for the recruiting Class of 2010) began – and may end – with Mister Jones. The 6’2″, 200 pound prospect from Littleton, Colorado, committed to play for the Buffs back in June. Jones runs a 4.5 40, and is considered a four-star prospect. Jones indicated that he wanted to stay close to home and his ailing mother, who is battling cancer.

“Sounds great. There’s only one problem … Well, two numbers actually – three and nine.

“Colorado’s failure to improve in the win column (in 2009) has had an effect on recruits, and Mister Jones is no exception. After the Buffs opened with losses to Colorado State and Toledo, Jones indicated that he would take a look at other schools. Oregon, Michigan, Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado State entered the picture. Jones took his official visit to Boulder during the Missouri game, after the announcement that Dan Hawkins is staying for the 2010 season, sounded more ‘solid’ than he did in September. ‘I’m still committed to CU,’ Jones told BuffStampede.com after the Nebraska game. ‘All around it is a perfect school for me and it is close to home.’

Then, on Sunday, December 13 (2009), Mister Jones changed his mind – again. ‘I committed to Texas A&M today,’ Jones told BuffStampede.com. ‘I had to call Colorado and tell them that I’m de-committing. I felt it was right to let them know.’ What about his solid commitment to Colorado, and wanting to stay close to home? ‘I’ve been thinking about it and I want to go out-of-state. I thought Texas A&M would be a better fit for me.’ Jones has cancelled other official visits, and now considers himself to be a ‘solid’ commit to the Aggies.”

Jones did sign with Texas A&M, while Colorado signed two other running backs named Jones as part of the 2010 recruiting Class of 2010 – Tony Jones and Trea Jones.

Fast forward two years …

Mister Jones red-shirted at Texas A&M in 2010, and did not play in 2011. Jones left College Station in September, after a widely reported incident in which Jones was caught smoking marijuana in the team hotel room before the opener against SMU.

Now, Jones is a CSU Ram.

January 18th

Washington takes Kiesau as well

The purging of the Cal coaching staff continues …

Former CU offensive coordinator Eric Kiesau is now also the former wide receivers coach at Cal.

In continuing the last-minute (in terms of the 2012 recruiting class) pillaging of the Bears’ coaching staff, Cal confirmed Kiesau’s departure with a short statement from coach Jeff Tedford and athletic director Sandy Barbour. It has been reported that Kiesau will be the Huskies’ offensive coordinator but it seems likely that head coach Steve Sarkisian will continue to call plays, as he did with former coordinator, Doug Nussmeier, who is leaving for Alabama.

Kiesau is the fifth new coach Sarkisian has hired this offseason. In addition to him and Lupoi, Sarkisian hired Justin Wilcox (defensive coordinator) and Peter Sirmon (linebackers) away from Tennessee and Keith Heyward (secondary) away from Oregon State.

What has become clear: Washington is willing to pay big money to stock a staff around Sarkisian. When the numbers are published, it’s possible that Washington could have the highest paid coaching staff in the conference in 2012, though USC doesn’t release salary information. It’s certainly clear that Cal couldn’t keep up, even though both schools will rake in big money from the Pac-12′s new TV contract. Simple fact: Washington is a wealthier athletic department.

January 17th

Pac-12 television money by season

As usual, Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News is the source for information about the upcoming Pac-12 Networks. In his latest article, Wilner notes that the Pac-12 Networks are still very much a work in progress, and details may not be known for months.

What we do know:

- Executives from the PacNetworkss are in the process of visiting the 12 campuses to assess the infrastructure — which stadiums, arenas, fields and gyms are properly wired for broadcasts and which need upgrades.

- That within Designated Market Areas — for example: Seattle, San Francisco, Denver, Salt Lake City, etc. — the PacNetworks will be shown on basic cable by the league’s four partners (Comcast, Bright House, Time Warner and Cox).

- Outside the DMAs but within the league’s footprint — for example: Sacramento, Medford, Walla Walla — the PacNets will be shown on digital cable. (In many places, digital cable and basic cable are the same thing.)

- The conference will almost certainly sign a distribution agreement with either DISH or DirecTV before the PacNetworks launch … but perhaps not both.

Wilner also speculated as to the value of the first-year payout to the conference from the new ESPN/Fox contract - $185 million – with an escalator clause which will call for a jump of approximately 4% per year.

That would make for the following annual payouts:

1st year: $185,000,000 (or about $15.4 million per team in the Pac-12)
2nd year: $192,400,000
3rd year: 200,096,000
4th year: 208,099, 840
5th year: 216,423,833 (now were up to $18 million per team per year)
6th year: 225,080,786
7th year: 234,084,017
8th year: 243,447,377
9th year: 253,185,272
10th year: 263,312,682 (now almost $22 million per team per year)
11th year: 273,845,189
12th year: 284,798,996 (almost $24 million per team per year)

You may notice that those payouts add up to less than the well-reported total of $3 billion — about $220,000,000 less, in fact. It’s possible that the total package isn’t worth exactly $3 billion … or that there’s some kind of lump-sum payment on the front or back end of the deal.

Bear in mind, this does not include revenue from the Pac-12 Networks (which, as you will recall, Larry Scott included as a very strong partner in the ESPN/Fox contracts, with premium football games and most of the men’s college basketball games reserved for the Pac-12 Networks).

Gentlemen, start your calculators!

January 16th

Cal defensive line coach Tosh Lupoi joins staff at Washington

While the timing – two weeks before Signing Day – would have raised eyebrows regardless, the move of defensive line coach Tosh Lupoi from Cal to Washington has caused quite a stir.

The reason?

Lupoi is considered one of the best recruiters in the nation.

Lupoi, 30, was the youngest coach on ESPN.com’s list of top 25 recruiters in 2011 and the youngest football assistant in the Pac-10 last year.

Why is Lupoi considered such a great recruiter?

“The kids understand when they talk to him, how much he cares about this place,” said running backs coach Ron Gould last spring. “Kids want to be around that kind of passion. You look in his eyes, and you see this guy has no quit. Listen to him for 30 seconds, and you feel his heart beat.”

Lupoi has helped Cal put together one of the best recruiting classes of 2012, with two five-star recruits and eight four-star recruits on their commitment list. Many of the top Cal recruits, including both five star recruits (defensive tackle Ellis McCarthy and defensive back Shaq Thompson) were Lupoi contacts. UPDATE: It didn’t even take 24 hours for Lupoi’s defection to take root. Defensive tackle Ellis McCarthy, a longtime Cal commit, changed his commitment to UCLA on Monday night.

Several four star recruits of Lupoi, including wide receiver Jordan Payton and linebacker Michael Barton, had been targeted by Colorado coaches prior to their commitments to Cal.

Will Lupoi’s defection, basically on the eve of Signing Day, make Cal recruits wary of signing with the Bears? Will Washington target – and get – some of Lupoi’s recruits? Will some of Cal’s verbal commitments take a look at other schools between now and February 1st?

Hard to say. But it would be safe to assume that some Cal commits are getting contacts today which they probably hadn’t planned upon receiving …

Meanwhile, Washington loses a coach of its own …

ESPN is reporting that Alabama has hired former Washington offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier for the same position, a source with knowledge of the coaching search confirmed. Nussmeier, 42, has worked as Washington’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach under Steve Sarkisian since 2009. The Huskies ranked 25th nationally in scoring (33.4 points per game) and 38th in total offense (409.9 yards per game) in 2011.

Nussmeier was considered instrumental in the development of quarterback Jake Locker, and NFL first-round pick in 2011, as well as sophomore Keith Price, who ranked 13th in quarterback rating (157.9) and seventh in touchdown passes (29) in 2011.

Nussmeier is respected in the recruiting world. He helped reel in top 25 recruiting classes to Washington in 2010 and 2011, according to ESPN’s team rankings.

Nussmeier replaces Jim McElwain, who left to become coach at Colorado State after four seasons with the Tide.

Darron Thomas an unlikely addition to the NFL draft list

Oregon junior quarterback Darron Thomas announced Saturday that he will forgo his senior season to enter the 2012 NFL Draft. “I came to this decision on behalf of myself and my family,” Thomas said in a prepared statement released by Oregon. “I have a dream of playing in the NFL and I’m going to pursue those dreams.”

The announcement comes as something as a surprise, because Thomas, while an effective quarterack in Oregon’s offense, is not highly thought of as an NFL-caliber quarterback. NFLDraftScout.com rated him as the 12th best quarterback prospect for the 2013 draft class. (No rankings for 2012 have been updated to include Thomas just yet).

While the loss of Thomas might appear initially to be a blow to the Ducks, there is some speculation that Thomas might not have held onto his job in Eugene, even if he had returned. Sophomore Bryan Bennett will become the leading candidate for the starting position, challenged by red-shirt freshman Marcus Mariota.

–

Thomas’ announcement brings to ten the number of Pac-12 players who have declared for the NFL draft. The deadline for eligible underclassmen to declare for the draft is Sunday, January 15th.

Those players who CU will not have to face next fall include:

Darron Thomas, QB, Oregon

LaMichael James, RB, Oregon

Brock Osweiller, QB, Arizona State

Vontaze Burfict, ILB, Arizona State

David DeCastro, OG, Stanford

Matt Kalil, OT, USC

Andrew Luck, QB, Stanford

Jonathan Martin, OT, Stanford

Nick Perry, DE, USC

Chris Polk, RB, Washington

January 11th

When 15 isn’t 15, and 75 isn’t 75

Now you count them, now you don’t.

According to penalties imposed upon USC, the Trojans are limited to 15 scholarships the next three seasons, and can only have 75 scholarship players on the team.

At last count, USC had 68 scholarship players on board, with a recruiting class of 12.

If you believe 68+12=80, however, you just aren’t paying attention.

How will USC get around the sanctions?

The way around the 15 player limit on scholarships, at least the Class of 2012, is to sign junior college players or have players grey-shirt (like offensive lineman Alex Kelley did for the Buffs this fall). In that instance, USC can have players who sign before February 1st count against the Class of 2011, when the Trojans were still entitled to sign 25 players.

A look at the USC 2012 commitment list shows that the Trojans have already signed four junior college players, so the commitment list for February 1st isn’t 12, it’s actually eight.

Still, the Trojans are adding more bodies to a scholarship base of 68, so the number – if nothing else changes between now and Signing Day – would still leave USC with a roster of 80 players.

Foul, you say!

Well, not really. The remaining members of the Class of 2012 who do not enroll early have only signed a Letter of Intent. Their scholarship doesn’t kick in until the fall. Then, and only then, will the Trojans have to be down to 75 players.

Which means that some players, currently on scholarship, will have to go.

Several players, running back Amir Carlisle (heading to Notre Dame) and Brice Butler (San Diego State), have already left. Several others, including wide receiver Kyle Prater and offensive lineman Armond Armstead, are also expected to transfer. USC will part ways – either on good terms or bad – with another half dozen or so players between now and August. If academics doesn’t force a few out, the coaches might have to make some tough decisions.

So, is this saying that the sanctions will not have an impact on USC?

Not at all.

It will just take time.

This fall, USC will play with 75. Injuries at key positions (see CU, cornerback, 2011) could cripple the Trojans.

Futhermore, on Signing Day, 2013 (and 2014, for that matter), USC will no longer have the luxury of signing any “look back” junior college prospects or grey-shirt holdovers.

USC will still have an elite team. The Trojans would be my pick to win the Pac-12 in 2012.

Still, the sanctions will hurt, if for no other reason than ten prospects per year, for the next three years, will sign somewhere other than with USC. Some, if not most, of those players will sign with teams which will play against USC, further leveling the playing field.

There will be a noticeable impact … it just won’t come on Februay 1, 2012.

(For a good story on the USC sanction math, including links to players who have left USC, and who may still leave the program, here is an article from the Orange County Register)

January 10th

Last poll of 2011; first poll of 2012

Remember the Big Two and the Little Six?

For many years, the Big Eight was looked upon as the Big Two – Oklahoma and Nebraska – and the Little Six – everybody else. In fact, in the 36 seasons of the Big Eight (1960-95), only Colorado, with three outright titles (1961, 1989, 1990) and two shared titles (1976, 1991), even came close to breaking the Sooner/Cornhusker logjam (only Missouri, amongst the other teams, had as many as two titles – one outright, one shared – and both of those were in the 1960′s).

It was Oklahoma’s and Nebraska’s world, and the Little Six were just allowed to play in it.

Fast forward to 2011.

The first season for the new Pac-12 is now in the books.

Big Three and Little Nine, anyone?

After the BCS title game, the final polls were taken, and the Pac-12 was well represented up top, with three teams in the top seven in the nation. Oregon finished the year ranked 4th. USC, not a part of the coaches’ poll as a result of NCAA sanctions, still came in at No. 6 in the Associated Press poll, followed closely by Stanford at No. 7.

After that? Crickets.

Not only did no other Pac-12 team receive a ranking, no other Pac-12 was good enough to be amongst the “others receiving votes”.

The Have’s and the Have Not’s.

And, if another “way too early” preseason poll is to be believed, the status quo will hold in 2012.

In an ESPN article, Mark Schlabach rates USC as his No. 2 team for 2012. Oregon is not far behind, at No. 4. The Andrew Luck-less Stanford Cardinal slip to No. 17 in this poll, but remain the only other team deemed worthy of mention.

So, what other Pac-12 team is ready to step up and join the national rankings?

Utah doesn’t leave the state for any of its non-conference games in 2012, with the toughest game being a home contest against BYU. The Utes – as was the case in 2011 – avoid Stanford and Oregon, and do get USC at home. With 18 starters returning, if Utah is going to make a case for being an upper echelon team in the Pac-12, 2012 will be the season.

Washington was a trendy pick for the next school to challenge the Big Three, at least until the Alamo Bowl. In losing to Baylor, 67-56, the Huskies surrendered as many touchdowns as Alabama did all season. Let’s try that one on again for size … Baylor, in four quarters, scored as many touchdowns against Washington as the Crimson Tide defense gave up in 13 games.

Cal and Arizona State always seem to be in the conversation about rising teams, but are perennial disappointments.

Arizona, UCLA and Washington State made good hires with their new head coaches, but time will tell. The Wildcats were 4-8 in 2011, the Bruins 6-8, and the Cougars 4-8. Not the stuff of a top 25 team, at least not yet.

Oregon State? The Beavers are still trying to figure out a way to adopt Phil Knight as one of its own.

Which leaves the Colorado Buffs.

No, the Buffs are not going from 3-10 to the Top 25 in one season. The pieces are not yet in place, but they are getting there.

So, for now, it will have to be the Big Three and the Little Nine. What is encouraging for the Buff Nation, though, is that there is not a great deal of distance between where CU is now, and No. 4 on the list.

Dare to dream.

January 9th

UCLA – Enforcing rules … or clearing room?

Jim Mora, Jr, the new head coach at UCLA, is taking charge … or taking inventory.

It may just be a coincidence, but there are several facts which just might have a connection to one another.

Fact 1: UCLA had only 17 seniors this past season, and had 16 verbal commitments when Jim Mora was hired on December 10th;

Fact 2: UCLA has received verbal commitments from six additional players since Mora was hired, raising the commitment total to 23;

Fact 3: Those numbers don’t add up; and

Fact 4: Three players – none of whom were major contributors – were dismissed from the team Monday for unspecified violations of team rules and academic shortcomings.

Tight end Raymond Nelson and defensive lineman Wesley Flowers for a violation of team rules while defensive back Randall Carroll was dismissed for failing to meet academic requirements, the school announced Monday after new coach Jim Mora met with the team for the first time.

“At UCLA, we have a high set of standards that we expect every student-athlete to adhere to,” Mora said in a statement issued by the school. “Unfortunately, these three gentlemen choose not to do so.”

Looking at the situation with black-and-gold colored glasses, there is potential good and bad to be seen from Mora’s actions.

The positive – Mora’s “no-nonsense” approach may be heralded in the short run, but will it take with a team used to playing at “Camp Rick”? While the three dismissed players may not have been the most popular players on the team, here’s guessing that they did have friends … friends who won’t much appreciate being treated as faceless uniforms.

The negative – Mora has assembled some well-respected recruiters to work for him, and since his hire, Mora has obtained commitments from several high profile recruits, including four-star cornerback Marcus Rios and junior college offensive lineman Alexandru Ceachir, both coveted by the CU coaching staff. Mora might be able, with time, to assemble a UCLA team capable of becoming relevant in short order.

If nothing else, it is interesting. Here’s betting that the CU coaching staff is looking through the list of commits given to UCLA prior to Mora’s hire, as well as other uncommitted players who were serious about UCLA, thinking that the Buffs’ chances on these players has just been enhanced.

January 8th

Pac-12 schedules – Notes on 2012

After taking a longer look at the CU schedule for 2012, here are some additional thoughts …

- Colorado does not have to face a team coming off of a bye week in 2012. Three times in 2011, the Buffs, who had no break in a 13-game campaign, had to play a team which had an extra week to prepare. That won’t happen in 2012 (unless you count Arizona State. Both the Buffs and the Sun Devils are taking off Saturday, October 6th, in anticipation of the game in Boulder on Thursday, October 11th). So CU will at least have a more level playing field in 2012;

- Five of CU’s first six opponents will be teams with new head coaches. Colorado State, Fresno State, Washington State, UCLA, and Arizona State will all have new men wearing the headset on the sidelines in 2012;

- v. CSU – September 1st – As is almost always the case, the Rams get to use the entire month of August to prepare for the Buffs (only once in the past 30 years has CU lost to CSU when the game was not the first game of the season, and that was in the ill-fated 2006 Dan Hawkins debut year). While the Buffs are taking on the Sacramento State Hornets in week two, the CSU Rams will also be facing a 1-AA school. The thing is, CSU will be taking on North Dakota State. The Rams might have to pay attention to the Bison, who won their first FCS national championship this season;

- v. Sacramento State – September 8th – -  The only team in the first half of the Buffs’ 2012 calendar which will not have a new head coach is Sacramento State, led by Marshall Sperbeck, entering his sixth season. At Sacramento State, Sperback is 24-32, including a 4-7 mark in 2011 (though the Hornets did upset Oregon State in Corvallis this past season);

- at Fresno State – September 15th – Fresno State, the Buffs’ third and final non-conference opponent, also play a Big Sky team, Weber State, early in the season. After taking on the Wildcats, though, Fresno State will travel to Eugene to face Oregon before heading home to challenge the Buffs. After playing CU, Fresno State is back on the road to face a Tulsa team which went 8-5 in 2011, including a 24-21 loss to BYU in the Armed Forces Bowl. For new FSU head coach Tim DeRuyter, the home games against Weber State and Colorado might look to be the best bets for September victories;

- at Washington State – September 22nd – Washington State had some momentum heading into the Pac-12 opener in Boulder last fall, coming in with a 2-1 non-conference record. That might be the case in 2012 as well, when CU plays in Pullman for the first time (the other two “road” games against WSU in CU history were played in Spokane and Seattle). Heading into the Pac-12 opener this fall, Washington State plays at BYU (not easy), at home against Eastern Washington (easy), then on the road agaisnt UNLV (easy). While UNLV can be decent at home, the Rebels were 2-10 in 2011, including a 59-7 loss to Washington State. Look for “Leach Mania” to be in full swing when CU heads off to play Washington State on September 22nd;

- v. UCLA – September 29th – In Colorado’s Pac-12 home opener, the Buffs take on UCLA. The Bruins new head coach, Jim Mora, has hired some good recruiters, but there will be questions about how quickly he can revive the program (witness the bowl loss to a hordid Illinois team). UCLA opens against Rice (4-8 last season) before heading home for three games in the Rose Bowl. First up: Nebraska; followed by Houston and Oregon State. The Bruins might be good in the near future, but they might also be 1-3 coming to Boulder to close out the September calendar;

- v. Arizona State – October 11th – Arizona State ended the 2011 season on a five game losing streak, ending 6-7 after a Las Vegas Bowl blowout loss (56-24) to Boise State. After opening the 2012 season with a laugher against Northern Arizona (this just figured out: Pac-12 teams like to play Big Sky teams about as much as Nebraska and Kansas State liked to play Sun Belt directional schools) the Sun Devils have four games which are all question marks. Arizona State could be 5-0 coming to Boulder for a nationally televised ESPN Thursday night game … or 1-4. The Sun Devils play four 2011 bowl teams in succession – Illinois; at Missouri; Utah; and Cal – before playing Colorado. You could make an argument for Arizona State winning all four games … or losing all four (my guess: ASU will be a 2-3 team when it plays Colorado);

- at USC – October 20th – Hope here is that the Buffs have stock-piled some early season victories, as the USC game begins a three-game gauntlet which will likely resemble the scores of late October, 2011. The CU/USC game will represent the only home game for the Trojans in a four game stretch, as, after a bye week to end September, USC will face Utah and Washington on the road before playing Colorado.

- at Oregon – October 27th – The Buffs may as well stay on the west coast after playing in Los Angeles, as the next game is in Eugene against the Ducks. Oregon may have lost out on a chance at playing in the BCS title game by agreeing to play LSU in the 2011 season opener. That mistake won’t be repeated in 2012, as it would be a major upset if Oregon is not undefeated and ranked in the top five in the nation when Colorado comes to town. The toughest non-conference game might be against the same Fresno State Bulldogs the Buffs will play, and even that game is at home. The other non-conference games are also both at home, against the Red Wolves and the Golden Eagles. Not sure of the opponents? They would be Arkansas State and Tennessee Tech. The only factor which might keep the CU/Oregon game from being a complete rout is that the Pac-12 Game of the Year – Oregon at USC – will be played the following weekend in Los Angeles – so the Ducks might pull back in the second half to keep stars from getting unnecessary injuries.

- v. Stanford – November 3rd – It just doesn’t get any easier for the Buffs, as Colorado plays a third straight team which finished in the top ten in 2011. At least the final game in the three game run is at home. The Cardinal get two of its rivalry games – Notre Dame and Cal – out of the way in October, so by the time the Buffs face Stanford, the Cardinal will be in a ho-hum stretch bracketed by games against Washington State and Oregon State. Perhaps the USC/Oregon game will be scheduled at the same time, so that the Stanford players will be scoreboard watching, instead of paying attention to the Buffs …

- at Arizona – November 10th – There was a great deal of buzz associated with the hire of Rich Rodriguez as the new Arizona head coach. Still, the Wildcats finished the 2011 season with a 4-8 record, and has some work to do. The non-conference schedule includes two probable victories (Toledo and South Carolina State, both at home) and a probable loss (Oklahoma State). Arizona opens Pac-12 play with its first road game of the season against Oregon, and will have also played Stanford (on the road) and USC and Washington (at home) before facing Colorado. The CU game is sandwiched between road games against UCLA and Utah, so there will be no great excitement surrounding this game in Tucson. Unlike the games against the other five new head coaches on the 2012 schedule, though, which are all played early, the Buffs will have a pretty good idea of how Rich Rodriguez has fared in his first year by the time this game rolls around.

- v. Washington – November 17th – Colorado in 2011 finished with two road games; in 2012 the Buffs get two home games to finish out the regular season. The Huskies will be a known quantity by the time they get to Boulder in mid-November, as Washington has the challenge of playing four top ten teams this fall, including a road game against LSU in September. After a bye week in late September, the Huskies face the same three-team march as Colorado – Stanford; at Oregon; USC. By the time Washington lands in Denver, the Huskies will be done with their home schedule, with only the Apple Cup game at Washington State left on the calendar.

- v. Utah – November 23rd – Utah once again avoids both Stanford and Oregon in 2012 (though there is some consolation that that break in the schedule won’t happen again until 2019-2020). The non-conference schedule includes a rout of Northern Colorado to open the season, followed by games against in-state rivals BYU and Utah State. The same weekend Colorado hosts Washington, Utah will also be at home, playing Arizona. Both teams will have the six day week to prepare, but that is going to be the norm for the foreseeable future.

 Overall … The 2012 season can be divided into four quarters. There is no question that the schedule is more manageable than the one the Buffs faced in 2011. There is also no question that expectations will be raised. Anything less than a 3-0 start to open the season will put bowl hopes in jeopardy. If the Buffs stumble against in any of the games against CSU, Sacramento State or Fresno State, then the second quarter of the season will decide the Buffs’ fate. A 2-1 run in the first quarter will require a 2-1 run in the second quarter – at Washington State; UCLA; Arizona State.

If Colorado can reach the midway point no worse than 4-2, a bowl is still available, but a 5-1 record would be much preferred, as the Buffs will be heavy underdogs in the third quarter, with games against USC, Oregon, and Stanford. If the Buffs hit the midway mark at 3-3 or worse, a bowl bid is likley out of the question.

Assuming the Buffs can emerge from the three loss stretch in the third quarter without significant injuries (or bruised psyches), the fourth quarter could be interesting. You could make an argument for Colorado defeating all three teams – at Arizona; Washington; Utah – or a case for losing to all three teams. Arizona is an unknown, but Washington and Utah were both bowl teams in 2011.

Earliest of early predictions (subject to much revision after Signing Day, Spring practice, and fall practices) … 5-7. Better, but this is still a team which finished with a 3-10 record in 2011, and loses most of its star power in the offense. If a quarterback (Connor Wood?) makes a splash, the prediction could be revised upward, but if the Buffs can’t find a star at quarterback, a replacement for Rodney Stewart, and a partner for Paul Richardson at wide receiver, it could be another long year …

January 4th

Colorado releases 2012 schedule

It took awhile, but now we finally know how the Buffs’ 2012 scheudule will unfold …

Sept. 1 – vs. Colorado State

Sept. 8 – SACRAMENTO STATE

Sept. 15 — at Fresno State

Sept. 22 – at Washington State*

Sept. 29 — UCLA*

Oct. 11 — ARIZONA STATE* (Thu.)

Oct. 20 — at Southern Cal*

Oct. 27 — at Oregon*

Nov. 3 — STANFORD*

Nov. 10 – at Arizona*

Nov. 17 — WASHINGTON*

Nov. 23 – UTAH* (Fri.)

First reactions …

1)  The Buffs had better start off 3-0.  This, as we have known for some time, will be a precursor for a bowl berth in December. With the lack of depth on the Buffs heading into 2012, especially in the skill positions on offense and along the defensive line, coupled with the five bowl teams on the schedule from league play, a fast start is the only option;

2) The great unknowns. We knew that six teams on the Buffs’ schedule in 2012 would have new head coaches. What we didn’t know until now is that CU would face five of them in the first six weeks of the season. Other than the game against Sacramento State, the Buffs will square off against a new head coach each week through mid-October. This could be considered a positive or a negative. On the positive side, the Buffs will get to take on these new teams before they will have had much chance to gel under their new coaches’ systems. The negative – there won’t be much film on these new formed teams, so Colorado will be more susceptible to new schemes and formations;

3) Splitting up the bye week. With the Thursday night game against Arizona State, the Buffs will have extra time to prepare for both Arizona State and USC. Extra time might not help with finding a great game plan for the Trojans, but the extra time to prepare for the Sun Devils, at home, in a nationally televised game, can’t hurt.

4) Sheild the children’s eyes … for the late October, early November gauntlet of USC, Oregon, and Stanford. All three will finish 2011 in the top ten, and all three will likely be there at the start of 2012. It will be one of those stretches where the Buff Nation may just have to grin and bear it, and hope that ther are not a significant number of injuries, as the Buffs get ready for …

5) The big finish. Even with all of the turmoil of the past few seasons, the Buffs have been able to finish stong in November, finishing with 2-1 records both years. With a road game at Arizona, followed by home games against Washington and Utah, the Buffs should be in position to be competitive in each of those games. Hopefully, a bowl bid will also be at stake, providing even more motivation for the CU players to finish strong.

January 2nd

Washington’s top running back opts for NFL

We knew that Washington would be a question mark on defense in 2012, with a team ranked 94th in total defense and 99th in scoring defense before giving up 777 yards and 67 points to Baylor in the Alamo Bowl.

But the Huskies appeared set on offense, with quarterback Keith Price returning, along with 1,488 yard rusher Chris Polk returning.

Not so much anymore.

Polk, the second-leading rusher in school history, is heading for the NFL.

“I’m ready to move on to the next phase of my life,” Polk said in a prepared statement. “I may not be the biggest or the fastest but I will do whatever it takes to win.”

Polk rushed for 4,049 yards on 799 carries over 40 games at Washington. He ends his college career just 57 yards shy of Napoleon Kaufman’s school rushing record. He ran for 1,113 yards as a redshirt freshman in 2009 and 1,415 yards in 2010.

“Chris had a terrific career at Washington and deserves the opportunity to move on to the next level,” Huskies coach Steve Sarkisian said in a prepared statement. “We wish him nothing but the best in what I’m sure will be a great professional career.”

Washington scoops up two Tennessee assistants

In the wake of firing of defensive coordinator Nick Holt, linebackers coach Mike Cox and safeties coach Jeff Mills, Washington acted quickly to find replacements.

Tennessee is losing two key members of its defensive coaching staff, as coordinator Justin Wilcox and linebackers coach Peter Sirmon have agreed to join Steve Sarkisian’s staff at Washington.

Wilcox and Sirmon were teammates at Oregon, and Wilcox was the defensive coordinator at Boise State for four seasons before joining coach Derek Dooley at Tennessee two years ago.

Wilcox, 35, has been a hot commodity since his red-hot run at Boise State. He was wooed by Texas last season, but elected to stay at Tennessee.

Sirmon, a Wenatchee, Wash., native, played seven seasons with the Tennessee Titans as a linebacker. He spent the 2009 season as a graduate assistant at Oregon before coming to Tennessee in 2010 as a grad assistant working under Wilcox. In addition to being one of the Vols’ top assistant coaches, Sirmon also was one of the program’s best recruiters.